Former US Open champion Marat Safin was knocked out of Wimbledon in an ill-tempered second round match here on Thursday after squandering a two-set lead over Chilean tenth seed Fernando Gonzalez.
LONDON: Former US Open champion Marat Safin was knocked out of Wimbledon in an ill-tempered second round match here on Thursday after squandering a two-set lead over Chilean tenth seed Fernando Gonzalez. The volatile Russian was beaten 4-6 6-7 (4) 6-4 6-4 6-4 in 3hrs 22 minutes after losing his temper during a tight tie-break -- which he won -- at the end of the second set.
Umpire Pascal Maria of France gave Safin a warning for issuing an audible obscenity and the 26-year-old Muscovite was not the only culprit as Gonzalez was also warned for smashing his racquet on losing the set. Safin, who won the US Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows in 2000 as well as the Australian Open last year, proceeded to complain about several other close line calls.
"What's happening, the ball is out..." pleaded Safin during the fourth set. "I guess it's OK that we need to run around for four hours and make clowns out of ourselves," he then muttered to the umpire at a changeover. "My brain doesn't work any more because I have been running for two and a half hours."
The crowd on Court Two gave the world number 87 the slow hand-clap in the sixth game of the fourth set during one of his outbursts as they began to get behind Gonzalez. The 25-year-old had broken Safin's serve in the ninth game of the third set, hitting a fizzing topspin crosscourt which forced the error out of his opponent, before going on to seal the set.
The Chilean broke again in the first game of the fourth set before Safin broke straight back and a marathon third game saw Safin hold serve after 12 deuces. But Gonzalez eventually gained the vital break before levelling the match at two sets apiece and closing out the match in the fifth.
Gonzalez will face either 23rd seed David Ferrer or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, both from Spain, in the third round.
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