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| |  Thursday, 7 September, 2000, 20:04 GMT 21:04 UK Safin sees off Kiefer Marat Safin was too strong for Nicolas Kiefer Marat Safin (Russ) bt Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 Russian Marat Safin survived the tough challenge of German Nicolas Kiefer to book a place in the US Open semi-finals. Sixth-seeded Safin progressed to the last four of a Grand Slam for the first time after an entertaining four-set clash at Flushing Meadows. Kiefer, the 14th seed, was ahead with breaks in both the first and third sets only to allow Safin to claw his way back each time. The 20-year-old Russian, playing in his third US Open, was down 5-2 in the first set before rallying to win five straight games to secure the set. But he dropped serve in the tenth game of the second set to let Kiefer level the match. Safin, a French Open quarter-finalist this year, managed to open up a 5-3 lead in the third, but Kiefer hung on and stormed back to 5-5.
In what turned out to be a crucial tie-breaker, Safin won on his second set point when Kiefer's forehand sailed wide. Safin broke Kiefer a final time in the sixth game, then had three match points on his opponent's serve. But Kiefer was not about to go quietly out of the tournament. He saved all the match points before bowing out on Safin's fourth match point in the following game - a winning 131mph second serve. Safin will now face the unseeded American Todd Martin. The other semi-final pits fourth-seeded four-time champion Pete Sampras against ninth-seeded Australian teenager Lleyton Hewitt. | |
See also:  08 Sep 00 | Photo Galleries 03 Sep 00 | US Open Tennis 06 Sep 00 | US Open Tennis Top US Open Tennis stories now: Links to more US Open Tennis stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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