Safin fined for outburst

Marat Safin wanted to replace his crashed Mercedes

Australian Open runner-up Marat Safin has been fined $5,000 by the ATP for verbally abusing a sponsor at the Nasdaq-100 Open Masters.

The Russian was fined for launching a verbal attack on a tournament representative after he was refused a new Mercedes-Benz to replace the one he crashed.

The ATP said the fine handed out by the tournament supervisor was the same a player would receive for abusing an on-court official.

The top eight seeds in Miami are all loaned a top of the range Mercedes for their private use during the two-week event.

Safin crashed his while driving to his hotel shortly after arriving in Miami.

He reached the quarter-finals of the event with a 6-3 6-3 win over Chile's Fernando Gonzalez on Wednesday.