"Shocking" was the word Andy Roddick used and, although he might have been referring to his own performance in losing 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-1 to Lleyton Hewitt in the second of the semi-finals, he was in fact meaning the Australian's previous failure, in eight attempts, to get beyond the last 16 of his own grand slam championship. Hewitt broke back with Roddick complaining about somebody calling out when he was serving. The second tie-break went the way of the first and thereafter Roddick slid to oblivion with unseeming haste, just as he had when losing to Hewitt in the Masters Cup semi-finals last year. He defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the 2005 final to secure his second Grand Slam Safin had earlier been slapping his thighs as if to get the blood flowing and had cream rubbed into them by the trainer. If his career is not to stall or decline, he has much work ahead of him. Hewitt is buoyed with destiny.
And Roddick cracked, losing the tie-break 7-3. Federer, Safin and Hewitt, who by winning this match took over from Roddick as the world No2, are all much more talented and versatile than the American, who is reliant on two weapons, albeit huge ones: his serve and his forehand. There was one problem, Roddick himself.
Safin has the power to overwhelm anybody.
Marat Safin VS Lleyton Hewitt #Title Not Set# Show Head 2 Head Detail VS 7 50% Wins Rank ... 2005 Australian Open Australia Outdoor Hard F Marat Safin 16 63 64 64. Russia's Marat Safin staged a superb fightback to beat home favourite Lleyton Hewitt and claim his first Australian Open title. Hewitt's Fanatics, a small group of cheerleaders who had been mute early on, urged their man on, only to sink back in their paid-for seats when the first set was replicated, Hewitt dropping his serve and going 3-0 down. Since then the closest they have come to the title was Pat Cash, who lost the 1987 and 1988 finals. His frustration was palpable.
Only the British have waited longer for a resident champion - 69 years since Fred Perry and counting. Rewind to 2005 Safin was the first opponent for Novak Djokovic in a major. © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. "I'm pissed off and mad," he said afterwards while remaining as engaging and honest as ever. In truth he was more rattled by Hewitt. But he was simply not getting a look in on Safin's serve, aces 16 and 17 putting him 4-2 ahead and another service hold took him to the brink of victory. Before this match Hewitt had already been on court for 14hr 38min, including successive five-setters against Rafael Nadal and David Nalbandian in the fourth round and quarter-final respectively. Yesterday the grounds were still quietly reverberating, like a huge bell long since struck, from the fall of the reigning champion and world No1 Roger Federer in five sets to Safin on Thursday night. He took the opening set with an unstoppable flurry of aces, two of them timed at 227kph (142mph), and won his first service game in the second set with four more. The only time he had previously beaten Hewitt was on the grass at Queen's Club and, for all the Australian's criticism of the slowness of the courts here, it worked in his favour on this occasion.
He has cited nervousness as the reason for his loss in the 2002 event, and physical exhaustion for the 2004 loss. The 23-year-old third seed dropped just two points on his serve and broke Safin twice to make a dream start to his first final in Melbourne.
Frequently he splayed out his fingers in front of his face like a man fighting inner demons. Russia's Marat Safin staged a superb fightback to beat home favourite Lleyton Hewitt and claim his first Australian Open title.
Hewitt's clear blues eyes stared back down the court like a man in the midst of a thunderstorm straining to see light on the horizon.