Moscow, October 09: Fans at the China Open got a glimpse of the Marat Safin of old on Thursday but despite serving up a thumping victory over Fernando Gonzalez, the Russian was entertaining no thoughts of extending his career.
The 29-year-old former world number one, who has decided to retire at the end of the season, allowed just one break point — which he saved — and fired 12 aces on his way to a 6-3, 6-4 win over the world number 12.
“I don’t think today’s match is going to be the key to my deciding to play another year, definitely not,” Safin said.
“It’s easy to play when you have nothing to lose, no points to defend, so you have no pressure at all so you can just play, just go for it.”
“If I was playing and had to defend something, it would be a different matter. I would get nervous at some point.”
Gonzalez, the 2007 China Open champion, looked a bit shell-shocked after being knocked out by the world number 52.
“I was expecting to win but I’m not surprised that I lost because Marat is a great player and didn’t do too much wrong,” said the Chilean seventh seed.
“He served unbelievable and didn’t let me do too much, one break point in the whole match. After that he was the only player on the court. I wasn’t playing bad but I wasn’t playing much.”
Safin has plenty of fans in Beijing after winning the 2004 China Open without dropping a set — a record he has matched in two matches this year.
The quarter-finals might be an altogether different story as world number two Rafa Nadal stands between the Russian and a place in the last four.
Safin has not won a title since his 2005 Australian Open triumph, however, and seems happy to play out the last few tournaments of his career without any pressure.
“I’m still playing pretty good tennis like today,” Safin said. “I am happy with the year, I’m still 52 in the world and it’s not a bad ranking to finish my career.”
Gonzalez, also 29 and perhaps reflecting on his own long season, thought that Safin was making the right decision in hanging up his racket after 12 years as a professional.
“I think he’s tired, many years on the tour, many years playing at a high level,” he said.
“You get really tired trailing around all year. It’s not good for tennis that Marat will retire but I think it’s good for himself.”
—Agencies