And Thailand Open has already ended. After failing to capitalize on two love games in the second set, and a few breaks, Marat ultimately lost to qualifier Marco Chiudinelli, 3-6 7-6 last Friday. It was a sad day for fans and for Marat himself, to the surprise of many people, after he expressed his desire to win in an post-match interview.

The truth is, Marat made some spectacular volleys in the second set, but he let his frustration at not being able to play very well take over him. Chiudinelli was a good server, consistent for most of the time and lesser unforced errors than Marat, and that helped him seal the victory. It might be bad news, but it is good news for the fact that Marat has dispelled talks about him not trying too hard. :D

At least he made it to the second round, 'cause everybody predicted he would bow out of the competition on the first.


Here are some photos of the match:

Well Chrome has crashed and I have to start this post all over AGAIN!


So here's the OOP

Marat plays Marco Chiudinelli, the winner of the battle of qualifiers the other day, at about 4-5 PM (THAI Time) Centre Court. After appropriate rest, not before 7:15 PM, he plays doubles with Gilles Simon (FRA) versus Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) and Mischa Zverev (GER) on Court 1.

I'll cross my fingers and hope Marat does a wonderful job whacking balls down the line, wishing for the best like I always do...and watch the live stream, as I'm here at work, I'll pray that my boss doesn't catch me or I'll wind up dead meat.

Speaking of streams, here are our lovelorn companions:

www.justin.tv
www.bet365.com
www.atdhe.net

You enjoy your day! And some of these photos, courtesy of Mrs. Unpredictable and of others as well:

Match Photos

You heard it right! Marat Safin, the ever unpredictable tennis player managed to pull of a win against Philipp Petszchner (36 on the world rankings), 6-2 3-6 6-1. This is first of the year win over a Top 50 player, surprisingly, because almost everybody thought he'd lose another first round match!

Beer for you and me, and one for Marat.

Anyway while we're enjoying and savouring the moment, Marat will be having a day's worth of rest. Play resumes Thursday, October 1, 2009.


OOP will be out later this evening, so hang on tight. And while you're here, take a look at some match photos:

Sorry for the late late late post, power was out for 3 days and there's flood here, can't do nothing about it... I haven't had been reporting. But all's good now, and we're back to business.

Draw was already out, and Mr. Safin has already played doubles with Gilles Simon, Top 10 ATP player, good-looking at that, too, and it was not enough for the two other guys, Jeff Coetzee and Rik de Voest... so Marat and Gilles prevailed!!

On to the singles. Marat plays today, against Philipp Petzschner, who most of the Safinholics remember as the guy who dispatched Marat Safin, the greatest Russian tennis player up to now, ever the HOAT, on the first round last year at Thailand.

Head to head, it's just 0-1. Only meeting at Thailand, and meeting again at Thailand, I hope Marat does some justice to his greatness this time. Hope he gives a good fight!! Davai, Davai, Maratik! If Marat does win this one, he'll be facing either the winner of the Marco Chiudinelli-Florian Mayer match-up.

Here are photos of him arriving at the airport:

A video:

A snapshot of his Doubles match with Simon... Big thanks to Getty...

Revised OOP: Marat is playing Petzschner not before 7pm, so hang on. Here it's just an hour difference, so lucky me. :)

Something to read before the games begin:

Technically, yes. Some breaking news for all of us in AFP, 52 minutes ago fashion...

Nadal withdraws from Thailand Open (AFP)

BANGKOK — Spanish world number two Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from next week's Thailand Open due to a stomach injury, the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand said Monday.

The Thailand Open will be held from September 26 until October 4 in the suburbs of Bangkok with a top prize of 608,500 dollars.

"Nadal has informed organisers that he has an acute rupture of the right abdominal muscle and would like to withdraw from the Thailand Open," LTAT president Suwat Lipatapanlop told AFP.

It is the second time that Nadal has withdrawn from the tournament after pulling out in 2007 with a knee injury.

Suwat said he was disappointed but the tournament would still feature reigning champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, French world number ten Gilles Simon and two-time grand slam winner Marat Safin of Russia.

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Well at least the draw will be quite safe for Maratik, and hopefully, this will end into something very pleasant! Well I know that it's bad having a party because Nadal's out with an injury, but Marat needs all the help he can get to at least win a ATP 250 title before he takes his stride towards the ultimate retirement. Don't you quite agree?

Anyway, on other news, we've got the Chinese Maratik fans wanting you to participate in how Marat's retirement ceremony should go, style-wise, if you plan for dedications and roses. If you have great ideas, please do not hesitate to mail fino7marat e-mail address referral, here ya go: [email protected]

Good luck with that one!

Let's send a plane encrusted in gold with the letters W-E-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U-M-A-R-A-T! See you on the 25! ~.~

Lotsa,
Author

We've got ourselves a treat here. The promo video includes Marat Safin!! Oh, and Rafa Nadal and Jo-Willy. Hurray! I hope you enjoy. I used some video grabbing software to grab this from the homepage. Next time anyone sees a video not from Youtube, call me and I'll get it for ya!

DAVAI Marat! Hope you get into semis this time.