Marat Safin in Dubai Barclays Duty free

Marat Safin has been given a wild card entry to Barclays Dubai tennis championship.

Safin reached the final here in 2001 before having to retire against Juan Carlos Ferrero with injury, and he has since struggled to repeat that success. In his four appearances since then he has failed to advance beyond the second round, but he has shown good form recently, with a final in Moscow in October and a fine performance against Roger Federer at the Australian Open suggesting he can still be a threat to anyone.

An interesting first-round clash will see Russia’s Marat Safin take on Frenchman Richard Gasquet. Ranked 26 and 27 in the world respectively, the two couldn’t be more closely matched. Safin, who had to reply on a wild card to participate in the tournament, has the superior record of three wins to Gasquet’s one, when the two have gone head to head in the past. He will, however, be hoping to avoid emulating his sister’s performance in Dubai this year – the world number two, Dinara Safina having crashed out in her first match of the tournament, after being handed a bye in the first round.

Safin's bloody good show and the slovaks win hopman cup

Arriving in perth, bruised and battered didn't stop Safin in reaching the final i hopman cup.

the russian teamed up with his sister Dinara Safina currently world no.3 and ended runner ups of the tournament.

Dominika Cibulkova and Dominik Hrbaty led Slovakia to the Hopman Cup title Friday with singles victories over Russian siblings Dinara Safina and Marat Safin.

Cibulkova beat Safina 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-4 Friday to give Slovakia a 1-0 lead and hand Safina her first singles loss of the tournament. Hrbaty then beat Safin, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (3) to clinch the championship before about 8,000 people at the Burswood Dome.

Each team had 3-0 records going into the final and led its group in round-robin play of the mixed teams event.

It was Slovakia’s third title in the 21-year history of the Hopman Cup. Hrbaty also won in 2005, with Daniela Hantuchova.

Safina gave away three set points in the 10th game of the opening set.

Trailing 5-1 in the deciding set, she won the next three games, but Cibulkova held her serve in the final game to take the match. It was the Slovakian’s first win over Safina in three career matches.

“I was up 5-1 and suddenly it was 5-4, then she had a break point so I was really fighting,” Cibulkova said. “I’m just so happy I beat her. I had to play aggressive.”

Safin, who was unusually subdued during his group matches, displayed his typical volatility in the final, smashing a racket in the first set.

The 28-year-old, who has said he will retire at the end of 2009, also entertained the crowd. During a tense moment in the third set, with Hrbaty struggling to hold serve, Safin gave the net judge a kiss on the cheek after his wayward forehand hit her in the body.

Russian former world number one Marat Safin believes little sister Dinara Safina is poised for a breakthrough Grand Slam win at the upcoming Australian Open.

The fiery siblings teamed up on the court for the first time at the mixed teams Hopman Cup here this week, reaching the final only to lose to Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova and Dominik Hrbaty.

Despite her surprise loss to Cibulkova on Friday, Safin, who won the Australian Open title in 2005, said his sister was ready to lift the women's title and also become world number one.

"I think she is ready," he said. "She had a tough match, Cibulkova played incredible tennis.

"It is going to be a different story in Australian Open. There are going to be a lot of nerves, she's not defending anything because she lost first round last year, but she has a huge chance.

"She has a big chance to get closer to number one and I think she is looking for this and she is ready to be there."

Meanwhile Safin, who arrived with two black eyes from a fist fight in Moscow, was also confident about his final season before retirement after showing great form in his wins against Simone Bolelli and Lu Yen-Hsun.

"I am happy with how I am playing and I ready to go to Melbourne," said the world number 29.

"I am quite confident, the way I am playing after two months without touching a racquet, it is not bad tennis I am showing."

Marat and Dinara beat The Italians in hopman cup

RUSSIA's dynamic brother-sister duo of Dinara Safina and Marat Safin got off to a winning Hyundai Hopman Cup start downing Italy 2-1 on Sunday's Session 2.

It is the first time Safina and older brother Safina have teamed together anywhere in the world and they secured the win with victories in their singles encounters over Italy's Flavia Pennetta and Simone Bolelli.

The women's match was a close fought affair between the world's No. 3 and 13 with Safina having to come from behind in each set to win 7-5, 6-3.

Fresh off the plane from Russia into Perth on Saturday night, Safin wore some war wounds from his New Year's back home but did not drop serve against Bolelli to win 7-6 (5), 6-4 on the back of 14 aces.

The Italians then got a measure of revenge winning the mixed doubles 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (10/2) in a result that keeps them well in the hunt for the final.

While Safina won the women's singles in straight sets, it was a tremendously see-sawing battle. Pennetta opened up a 3-1 lead in the first set and consolidated that to 5-3, but then the Russian won the next four games to claim it 7-5.

It ended in a cruel way when Pennetta was called for the first foot fault of the tournament.

Pennetta again started the second set in bright fashion to take a commanding 3-0 advantage after winning the first two games without Safina winning a point, but the Russian then dominated winning six straight games to take the set 6-3, and sew up the win for the Russians.

In the men's match, Safin and Bolelli held serve right through the first set to send it into a tie-break. Safin's serve was well on song with 10 aces and that helped him claim the tie-breaker 7-5.

Having scored a win in their only previous meeting, Bolelli wasn’t about to go away, though, and the two held serve through the first six games of the second set before Safin scored the first break.

It came in the seventh game to give him a 4-3 lead and Safin consolidated to go up 5-3. Safin went on to hold serve and break Bolelli again to take the second set 6-4 to clinch the Tie.

Pennetta and Bolelli were desperate to do well in the doubles and started well, taking the set 7-5. However, Safina and Safin hit back in the second to win it 6-4 and force a deciding Match tie-break.

When there, the Italian duo dominated to take it out 10-2 to score the victory.

Italy next plays in Tuesday's day Session against France, while Russia has until Wednesday evening before taking on Chinese Taipei.

Marat Safin decided to play again in 2009 starting with Hopman Cup

Marat Safin who contemplated retirement after a disappointing loss during the last season, has decided to prolong his career for at least another year. he finally decided to continue playing tennis in 2009.
he will be starting the year with the prestigious Hyundai Hopman cup in Perth Australia with his sister Dinara Safina.

“I’m pleased to confirm my participation in Hopman Cup. It will be special to play with my sister, and I hope we can challenge for the Trophy”, Safin said.

Marat Safin and Dinara Safina would team up for the first time to form the second team in the tournament.

The Russians will be the number two seed.

Safin also decided to play in the Australian open where he will be seeded 29th.

Hopman Cup takes place 3-9 January 2009

link to full schedule

Marat Safin is in the semifinals of the “Kremlin Cup”-2008

Marat Safin won Nikolay Davydenko! Oh my God!

The upset of the defending champion of kremlin cup was today by the hands of the giant Marat Safin.

Marat Safin beat Nikolay Davydenko 7/6, 4/6, 6/4 reaching the semifinals of the “Kremlin Cup”-2008. He will play Igor Kunitsyn who beat Jeremy Chardy 6/4, 6/2 in the quarterfinals of the “Kremlin Cup”-2008.

Marat didn't win a consecutive 3 matches since wimbledon 2008. This is huge for the former no. 1.

Marat Safin at Player`s party in "Shokolad" club

Watch the match summary video here

Marat Safin of Russia signs autographs after defeating Nikolay Davydenko of Russia during day five of the Kremlin Cup Tennis at the Olympic Stadium on October 10, 2008 in Moscow, Russia.

Also Today october 10th, Dinara Safina beat her compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova 6/4, 7/5 in the quarterfinal of the “Kremlin Cup”-2008. “I managed to play well against Sveta,- said the winner after the match. – I tried to think on the court placing the ball smartly”.
Thus all the participants of tomorrow’s semifinals have become known: Jelena Jankovic will play Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina – Vera Dushevina.

Kremlin cup 2008 (Кубок Кремля)

Kremlin Cup

Moscow, Russia, Olympic Stadium
October 6-12, 2008
Tier I
Prize Money: $1,340,000
Draw: 28M/32Q/16D
Surface: Supreme/Indoors
Tournament Director: Aleksei Selivanenko

Marat plays Okun Noam a qualifier in first round on Tuesday October 7th.
Marat Safin is seeded n. 7 in the tournament.

Marat Safin was the runner up in 2006. he lost to Nikolay Davydenko.
Marat won the doubles title last year 2007 with Dmitry Tursunov.

Link to website in English
Link to website in Russian

Marat and Dinara. One on One

here's a full interview of Marat talking about his sister!

Q. Your sister was in here earlier after her win, and she talked about you actually have talked to her through the years about trying to learn from your...

MARAT SAFIN: My mistakes, yes. (laughter.)

Q. Can you just give us a couple minutes what you think of what she's done professionally so far this year in particular and maybe what her chances are?

MARAT SAFIN: I think if she will do everything opposite of what I've been doing throughout the years she will be No. 1 in the world for a long time. That's as simple as it is.

Q. As a brother, how proud of her are you?

MARAT SAFIN: Always, of course. I mean, she's doing so well, and she's very close to finish the year No. 1. She's playing well. Two tough finals in the French Open and Beijing, so I think the third one is here. She should take her chance.

It's a little too early to speak about it, but I think she deserved it. And the way she was working already this year, and the decision she made at the age of 22 for a girl, I think it's very tough one.

She made them, she's doing very well, and I think she deserved it. I think she's totally ready to win the first Grand Slam, so I think why not? I'm really proud of the way she's handling the pressure and the way she's handling herself.

I think it's ‑‑ and the way she's treating the people around her, I think it's amazing, so I'm really happy for her.

Marat now sees Dinara as a legitimate major-title contender, ranked No. 7.

here are Dinara's words about her brother:

Marat often scolded Dinara about "acting like a baby and the crying and all this. He hated it," she said. "He was always, like, 'Come on; you have to grow up in your mind.'

"When he plays his best, I would take everything he has: his power, fighting spirit. When he plays his worst game, then I don't need anything."

Still, Dinara said he always is there for support. "I better listen to his advice," she said. "I have success now, but he was No. 1 in the world, so I still have to catch up. He can teach me many things in life."