Safin safely through

Marat Safin made the most of the cooler conditions to cruise into the semi-finals of the Australian Open today.

Soaring temperatures in Melbourne meant the roof on the Rod Laver Arena was closed for Safin’s match with Dominik Hrbaty, although the women’s quarter-finalists had not been so lucky earlier in the day.

And Safin clearly enjoyed the perfect indoor climate as he disposed of Hrbaty 6-2 6-4 6-2 in just 90 minutes.

“It helped me a lot to play indoors,” admitted Safin, the fourth seed and last year’s beaten finalist.

“Dominik wanted to play outdoors but at the last minute the tournament director said they were closing the roof.

“I played the best tennis I could today. I knew we were going to meet in the quarter-finals so I practised with Dominik three times last week!”

Safin and Hrbaty had each won six of their previous 12 meetings, Hrbaty coming out on top in both grand slam clashes, including in the fourth round here in 2001.

But the Slovakian world number 27 was never in contention on this occasion, losing his serve twice in each set and making 29 unforced errors.

Safin never had to get out of second gear but still served 14 aces, the fastest clocked at 137mph.