Marat Safin

Former world number one Marat Safin said he was considering his future in the game after his first round loss at the Paris Masters.

 Former world number one Marat Safin stumbled out of the Paris Masters Series when he lost 6-0 7-6 against Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco in the first round on Monday.

The Russian, three-time winner of the Paris indoor tournament, picked up his game too late to unsettle Monaco, who will next meet France's Gael Monfils, seeded 16th.

"I didn't take my chances and that's why the score is 6-0 7-6," Safin told reporters, adding that he was thinking over his future in the game.

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.

Murray, fresh from winning the Madrid Masters on Sunday for his fourth title this season, won his first three games at love before saving a break point in the next game that he served.

 Italian Simone Bolelli upset local favourite Nicolas Almagro 7-6 6-1 at the Madrid Masters on Monday to make it through to a second round meeting with fourth seed Andy Murray.

The 23-year-old, who lost to Steve Darcis in the final round of qualifying, entered the draw after Russian Marat Safin withdrew with a shoulder injury.

American Mardy Fish also progressed by sweeping aside Belgian qualifier Darcis 6-1 6-4, and will face France’s Richard Gasquet, the 15th seed next.

Nikolay Davydenko’s reign is over at the Kremlin Cup.

No. 7 Marat Safin rode a powerful serve to knocked off the top-seeded Davydenko, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of this hardcourt event Friday.

A former No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion, Safin fired 17 aces to outlast the two-time defending champion, denying him a fourth shot at the title of this $1 million tournament.

World number one Jelena Jankovic beat Russia's Vera Dushevina 6-7 6-3 6-2 at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow despite appearing to struggle with an injury.

Jankovic had to have treatment on her hip after the third game of the first set, but battled to win an epic match.
 
Dushevina should have won in straight sets after coming from behind in the first and breaking early in the second.
 

Nikolay Davydenko kept on rolling at the Kremlin Cup.

The top-seeded Russian opened the $1 million hardcourt event Tuesday with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Frenchman Florent Serra.

The two-time reigning champion of this event, Davydenko ran his winning streak here to 11 matches and appears primed to extend the run with unseeded Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez awaiting him in the second round.

Fourth seed Gael Monfils reached the Thailand Open semi-finals with a gutsy 7-6 6-4 victory over German Phillipp Petzschner on Friday.

The Frenchman had the edge in a tight but entertaining match and switched his tactics to win a close tiebreak in the first set against an opponent playing in his first tour quarter-final.

Petzschner, who beat Russian Marat Safin in the first round, pressurised his opponent's backhand to try to force errors but Monfils broke serve at 4-4 in the second and held on to secure a place in his fourth semi-final of the year.

Russian seventh-seed Marat Safin tumbled out in the first round of the Thailand Open on Tuesday following a 6-4 7-6 defeat by German Philipp Petzschner.

The former U.S. and Australian Open winner fell at the first hurdle in one of his favourite tournaments, handing the pacy Petzschner the first set and coming out on the wrong end of the deciding tiebreak.

“I didn’t feel comfortable on court,” Safin told reporters. “Unfortunately, I didn’t win, the other guy was better than me.”