After playing two matches the night prior, No. 8 seed Marat Safin needed a come-from-behind effort to get past US Open Series points leader Robby Ginepri in the first round of the Los Angeles Tennis Open.
Safin, the former world No. 1 player, won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match that lasted an hour and 32 minutes at Straus Stadium.
A night after his exhibition match with Pete Sampras, Safin seemed sluggish to start.
“If you beat Pete Sampras the day before, you know you have a good chance of beating Robby Ginepri,” Safin said jokingly.
But after falling behind early, Tuesday night’s match was no laughing matter.
“Robby is playing really well, coming from a title last week,” Safin said. “He is a tough player.”
Safin had never been able to figure out Ginepri, whose 70 points rank first in the US Open Series standings this season.
In 2003, Ginepri beat Safin 6-0, 6-1 in the Masters Series at Indian Wells. Ginepri eliminated Safin in the quarterfinals of the Masters Series at Cincinnati two years later.
After taking the final three games of the first set, it looked as if Ginepri was headed in the same direction.
But then came the turning point, as Safin battled back to claim a 3-0 lead in the second set.
“I was able to go up a break in the beginning of the second set, and that helped me to turn the match around,” Safin said.
Safin, who had won only 33 percent of the points in the first set, managed to win the first three games of the deciding third set as well. The early advantage proved to be crucial, as Ginepri battled to within one before falling 6-4.
Safin registered eight aces during the match to overcome seven double faults.
The 29-year-old Safin was coming off a pair of matches on Monday night, needing a third-set tiebreak to beat Sampras in the “Millennium Challenge.” He then teamed with fellow Russian Igor Kunitsyn in a doubles victory less than an hour later.
With the victory, Safin advances to the second round, where he will play 20-year-old Ernests Gulbis on Wednesday afternoon.
“Gulbis is a young, ambitious player,” Safin said. “He has a very good serve and plays well from the back. I will need to play my game to beat him.”
QUICKIE FOR QUERREY: No. 6 seed Sam Querrey needed just 45 minutes to dispose of Denis Istomin, 6-2, 6-0 in Tuesday night’s final match.
The 21-year-old Querrey won 90 percent of his first-serve points, going a perfect 9-for-9 in the deciding second set.
Querrey, who resides in nearby Thousand Oaks, will play fellow American Ryan Sweeting in the second round on Thursday.