Safin bows out tamely

Fourth seed Marat Safin was dumped out of the Cincinnati Masters on Friday by American wildcard Robby Ginepri 6-2, 6-3. Fifth seed Andy Roddick battled past Russian Mikhail Youznhy 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and now plays third seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, who saw off sixth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-2 6-3.

With Ginepri cutting down on the unforced errors, Safin self-destructed, smashing a ball out of the stadium and throwing his racket in disgust at his performance.

Safin, who is still struggling with a left knee injury, said he had half-expected a bad performance. “I woke up this morning and didn’t have any energy,” he said.

Meanwhile, top seed Federer let slip an early lead in the first set when his Argentine opponent Jose Acasuso recovered from 3-0 down to 3-3. But once the Swiss, in his first event since he won a third consecutive Wimbledon title, had taken the first set it was plain sailing as he clinched a 6-4 6-3 victory.