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.