Federer Brushes Aside Safin

Written by Jess Plopinio
Swiss world number one Roger Federer surged into the Kooyong Classic Invitational finals when he brushed aside Russian Marat Safin, 6-3,7-6(2) in one hour and five minutes.
Federer who was tested by Czech Radek Stepanek in the opening round, was no match against a rusty Safin. In the first set, Federer was very much in control of the game, with clean winners but less unforced errors, as he broke Safin’s serve in the fourth game. In the second match,Federer had some lapses while Safin, found his rythym and countered Federer, shot-for-shot. Safin was serving for the set at 5-3, hoping to extend the match to another set. But Federer broke back, and went on to level the score, pushing the set to a tiebreak which he handily won.
Federer will meet either Andy Roddick or Andy Murray in the finals. Federer holds a 12-1 win-loss record against Roddick while 1-1 against Murray.
“I didn’t know exactly what to expect today against Marat, I didn’t know how he was playing, Federer said. “I was expecting a really tough match because yesterday I was struggling with the rhythm and everything.But I came out and played really well, didn’t make many unforced errors in the wind and everything, and could hang with him from the baseline and varied my game well.So I’m really happy the way I played,” added Federer