Safin survives scare

Marat Safin recovered from a set down

Click here for Friday's results

Marat Safin produced a fiery performance as he fought back to beat Max Mirnyi, of Belarus, 2-6 6-4 6-4 to reach the last four of the Lyon Grand Prix.

The number three seed beat Mirnyi in the first round of the Kremlin Cup last week, but a repeat looked unlikely when the Russian made a poor start.

"Today, there is no part of my game I can be very happy about," said Safin. "I did not serve well as my double faults showed. But I fought hard."

My confidence is not as good as it was last season

Marat Safin

Safin conceded the opening set with a double fault, which only added to his frustration as Mirnyi dominated on serve.

But despite several familiar outbursts, Safin kept his game together sufficiently to level the match in the second set.

Mirnyi could not take advantage of his opponent's lack of composure and Safin made the decisive break in the seventh game of the final set.

The former US Open champion closed out the match with his next two service games.

"It's very hard to play against players who serve and volley all the time," said Safin. "It's hard to keep focused.

"Right now my confidence is not as good as it was last season and I feel much worse.

"Last year I had the impression that nothing could happen to me. This year I feel I can lose this sort of match."

Fatigue

Safin will face Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic after he beat Gaston Gaudio of Argentina 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1.

Ljubicic needed two hours and ten minutes to overcome Gaudio and admitted that fatigue is starting to take its toll.

"I was very tired at the start of the third set, but I succeeded in getting the early break of serve and then I served well to win the match," said the Croat.

In other matches, Xavier Malisse of Belgium went through after Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman retired from the quarter-final with a stomach injury at 6-1 4-1 down.

Malisse will meet Younes el Aynaoui in the semi-final after the Moroccan beat second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, 6-4 6-4.

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Results from Friday's action in the Lyon Grand Prix:

Younes el Aynaoui (Mor) bt Juan Carlos Ferrero [2] (Spa) 6-4 6-4
Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) 6-1 4-1 (retired injured)
Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Gaston Gaudio (Arg) 6-3 6-7 6-1
Marat Safin [3] (Rus) bt Max Mirnyi (Bel) 2-6 6-4 6-4

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