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.

Paris Masters last stop before Shanghai

This week's Paris Masters will complete the jigsaw of who lands the final three berths for the season-ending Tennis Masters Shanghai.

World No.1 Rafael Nadal and the man he displaced, Roger Federer, have already booked their tickets for China and Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Nikolai Davydenko are also guaranteed places.

But the remaining slots are up for grabs, ensuring a denouement in the City of Light.

A group of players, led by American Andy Roddick, are pressing for those final positions though French world No.12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga saw his hopes take a dive on Saturday in losing the Lyon semi-final to compatriot Julien Benneteau.

Another Frenchman, Gilles Simon, is also sweating having gone into the weekend in eighth slot only to bow out in Lyon to Swede Robin Soderling.

Simon would have caught up Roddick and would also have leapfrogged Basel losing semi-finalist Juan Martin del Potro had he won in Lyon but now his hopes of a Chinese sojourn hang in the balance.

One man who says he prefers to concentrate on the Davis Cup final rather than head for Shanghai is Argentine star David Nalbandian, who wants to help push his country over the line for the first time in their history against Spain in Mar del Plata.

Nalbandian has a busy schedule as it is, having reached the Basel final where he was Sunday out for a second Swiss title and going toe to toe with Federer, who was on a hat-trick of triumphs in his homeland.

At the Davis Cup final, to be played in Mar del Plata in four weeks' time, the 26-year-old will at least be able to cease hostilities with teammate Del Potro, whom he despatched 6-4 6-4 in Basel on Saturday.

Del Potro has enjoyed a sensational season to date, but Saturday's reverse means he requires a solid showing in Paris as he has not just Simon but also David Ferrer and James Blake breathing down his neck.

As the winner of four straight titles over the summer admitted in Basel: "I'm tired, both mentally and physically.

"It has been tough for me. I really want to make the Masters Cup and win the Davis Cup."

Murray will hope to show that his run of success this season will continue in Paris and erase disappointing memories of his last visit - a third-round French Open loss to Spaniard Nicolas Amalgro.

Murray, who kicked on from his Madrid Masters victory with another fine run in St Petersburg, admitted post-Madrid that he was a long way behind the top three. But with his season finale assured he can enjoy Paris and then focus on a Chinese coronation.

With the Davis Cup and Shanghai attracting the focus of so many of the top stars at this time of year, Paris has struggled on occasion to attract a gold-plated field, which is a source of concern to the hosts, not least with Davydenko an injury doubt.

Safin upset, Murray advances in St. Petersburg

Defending champion Andy Murray beat Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-2 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the St. Petersburg Open, while eighth-seeded Marat Safin was upset in the second round.

Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan beat Safin 6-4, 6-2 to advance to his first career quarterfinal.

Safin, the 31st-ranked Russian who has twice won the tournament, had trouble on his serve, winning only 15 of 51 returned points.

The 150th-ranked Golubev, who reached the second round of the U.S. Open in September, broke Safin in the fifth game of the first set but double-faulted three times in the next game to drop serve and stay level at 3-3.

In the ninth game, Safin saved three break points with aces but was broken on the third deuce, and Golubev served for the set.

"The second break in the first set was a decisive one," Safin said. "He became confident and it was much more difficult to play against him. In fact, I didn't have many chances in the second set."

Golubev won five consecutive games for a 5-1 lead in the second set.

"I knew he would be playing his best tennis today," Safin said. "He had nothing to lose and played with no problems. No matter how I tried, it was his day today."

The big Russian, who won here in 2000 and 2001, was outhit and outplayed by the 150th-ranked Golubev.

The slightly-built Kazakh, who has played mainly on a Challenger circuit and has won only three ATP matches in his career until this week, also fired more aces, seven to Safin's five.

"He (Golubev) totally deserved his victory," Safin told reporters. "He served better than me, was more consistent from the baseline and made less mistakes."

Golubev, born in Russia before switching his alliance to Kazakhstan, said: "Marat was my hero when I was growing up. It was my dream to play him and I couldn't even imagine beating him."

Later today, Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn were beaten by R. Bopanna and M. Mirnyi in the doubles.