By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
If body language alone determines the outcome of a match, then
Marat Safin lost his second-round match early in the second
set.
That was about the point when he started walking with his head
down, when his shoulders started slumping, when his eyes, already
squinting from the afternoon sun, started to look like they could
break into frustrated tears at any moment.
But since a match doesn’t come down to body language
alone, Tuesday’s match came down to Xavier Malisse playing
near flawless tennis and Safin hitting too many balls out. So the
bottom line was this: Malisse scoreda 7-5, 6-3 upset over the No. 2
seeded Safin.
“I’m not confident in myself,” said Safin, who
repeatedly mentioned that nothing could go his way. “I
can’t do nothing. It just happens.”
The two baseliners had some spectacular volleys in the first
set. They remained even until Malisse broke Safin in the final game
with ease. Though Safin served, Malisse was the one who
didn’t drop a point.
In the second set the score was 2-2 when a battle ensued for the
next game. Malisse, serving, had the early advantage (30-0) until
Safin fought back for deuce. But Safin couldn’t close out the
attempted break. Atthe third deuce Safin hit the ball long and
threw his racket. Then he hit another one out.
That disappointment may have broken his spirit, but what
happened next shattered it. Safin served for the tie, but Malisse
broke him easily, once again failing to drop a point. Then Malisse
won his next serve at love and went up 5-2 in the set.
That all but sealed the victory. Safin won a set to make the
score 5-3, but even then still looked like a man who had already
conceded defeat. He went through the motions in Malisse’s
winning game ““ which, incidentally, ended with Safin hitting
the ball long.
Malisse, who had eight aces to Safin’s three, and who won
92 percent of his first serve points (24 out of 25), called this
victory the biggest in his career.
“I served great, everything worked,” he said.
“I’ve had a couple matches like this, but not this
consistent. I tend to go up and down.”
Malisse will play Taylor Dent in the quarterfinals.