Safin downs `Scud’ to be the youngest Numero Uno

Paris, November 20: Russian second seed and ATP Champions Race leader Marat Safin won a cliffhanger final at the $ 2.95 million Paris Mast...

Paris, November 20: Russian second seed and ATP Champions Race leader Marat Safin won a cliffhanger final at the $ 2.95 million Paris Masters Series title at the Bercy stadium, downing Australian 13th-seed Mark Philippoussis 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10-8).

“I don’t know why I can’t think I’m No 1. I won enough tournaments. Maybe some people don’t like it, but that’s life,” he said, in a sideswipe at the Tour’s marketing of the Champions Race as the Prime indicator.

And he said he would look to win the

Masters Cup in Lisbon starting November 28 so that the tennis establishment do not regard him as “that yo-yo from Moscow.”

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He added he thought he would have to quit after a bad fall in the third set, when he cut himself above his right eyebrow going for a low volley, when he saw the blood dripping from the wound.

“I thought I’d have to say `thank you and bye bye,” he admitted.

Safin’s success, achieved on his sixth match point after a heartstopping finale, made him the only player to claim more than one Masters Series title in 2000 having earlier won in Toronto, Canada.

ATP Champions Race standings on Monday: 1. Marat Safin (Rus) 784; 2. Gustavo Kuerten (Bra) 709; 3. Pete Sampras (USA) 637; 4. Magnus Norman (Swe) 622; 5. Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus) 558; 6. Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 505; 7. Alex Corretja (Spa) 476; 8. Andre Agassi (USA) 453; 9. Thomas Enqvist (Swe) 442; 10. Tim Henman (Gbur) 391; 11. Mark Philippoussis (Aus) 373; 12.Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) 368; 13.Wayne Ferreira (Rsa) 354; 14.Franco Squillari (Arg) 312; 15. Patrick Rafter (Aus) 307; 16. Cedric Pioline (Fra) 304; 17. Arnaud Clement (Fra) 272; 18. Dominik Hrbaty (Svk) 260; 19. Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) 255; 20. Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) 253.

Hingis supreme

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NEW YORK: World No 1 Martina Hingis defeated Monica Seles 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the season-ending $ two-million Chase championships.

Hingis needed two hours 21 minutes on Sunday to edge a battling three-time winner Seles of the United States. For Hingis it was the ninth win of the year and 12th victory in 14 meetings with Seles.

The defeat marks the end of Masters tournament tennis for Seles. From next year the tournament moves for five years to Munich. Seles has refused to play in Germany since she was stabbed in the back on court at the 1993 tournament in Hamburg.