Safin Ousts Roddick in Birthday Surprise

They kept waiting for the other shoe to drop -- or in Marat Safin’s case, his racket -- for close to 3 1/2 hours Tuesday night.

And when it didn’t, the crowd of about 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena sang “Happy Birthday” to the sometime racket thrower, a dual salute, one part acknowledgment of his 24th birthday and the other a tribute to his 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (0), 6-4 quarterfinal victory over top-seeded Andy Roddick at the Australian Open.

Safin, a finalist here in 2002 and the 2000 U.S. Open champion, missed most of last year with a career-threatening left wrist injury.

Rebirth never felt so good.

“I can’t ask for anything else,” said Safin, who will play defending champion Andre Agassi in the semifinals. “Is probably the best birthday I ever had.”

His fifth-set performance was a stunner, and a revelation for veteran Safin watchers. After it took Roddick all of five minutes to take the fourth-set tiebreaker, sweeping it, 7-0, the question seemed legitimate: How could a rapidly tiring Safin possibly outlast Roddick?

Conventional wisdom held that the Russian was too erratic, too sore of leg, and, well, just too Marat. Those notions evaporated as the fifth set crept along.

Roddick, though, had a fleeting thought of his epic quarterfinal victory over Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco, a five-hour match last year in the same round.

“I thought about it before we started the fifth set, ‘Gee, oh, gosh,’ ” Roddick said. “Because we hadn’t broken each other in however long. So I was like, ‘This could get ridiculous.’ But I didn’t think about it much once we got started.”

Break points were rare in the fifth. Roddick had one in the fourth game but Safin saved it with a service winner. Finally, in the ninth game, Safin broke Roddick at 15 when Roddick netted a forehand volley.

That wasn’t the end of the drama, however. Safin served for the match at 5-4 but had to fight off two break points. He saved one with an ace, and Roddick had a good look at a second serve on the other but netted a forehand return. Safin then finished it with a forehand volley.

“I felt like I had my feet back in,” Roddick said of that final game. “I really didn’t make him play too much from 15-40 on. I had a good look at a forehand again, and just clipped the tape with one that was going to get up the line pretty good.... I didn’t want to just lay down because he had the break.”

Roddick, the U.S. Open champion, will lose his No. 1 ranking after the Open to either Roger Federer of Switzerland or Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, but said, “No one can take away from me the fact that I was there and that I did have it. It’s going to be jumping around a little bit this year.”

Safin will certainly be in the No. 1 mix again after his long absence. He matched Roddick stroke for stroke in a riveting 3-hour 23-minute contest, and had one more ace, 19 to 18. This, despite needing what he called a painkiller from the trainer for his leg during the match, and having accumulated much more court time than Roddick. In his four previous matches, Roddick had not dropped a set. Safin needed four sets in three of his matches and five against Todd Martin in the third round.

He may not appear physically fresh, but Safin has a new mental outlook. After beating Roddick, he talked about going fishing at Yosemite last summer after the Los Angeles tournament to clear his mind. A chance recommendation in Southern California brought him to noted sports doctor Keith Feder, who, Safin said, finally solved his problems by putting a cast on the bothersome wrist.

Later, in the corridor, he was asked how he’d met the doctor who helped revive his career.

“Patricia Reeves,” Safin said, obligingly. “The mother of [actor] Keanu Reeves.”

Of course. The unpredictable world of Marat Safin is back in orbit.