Safin aims for three-peat
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ByEurosport
Published 07/11/2004 at 11:04 GMT
The final match of the ATP season gives Paris Masters finalists, sixth seed Marat Safin or qualifier Radek Stepanek the chance to boost their world ranking and bank balance with a 445,500 euro first prize. Safin will be aiming to emulate Boris Becker's fe
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Stepanek, who has reached his first career final, upset the Russian in the Kremlin Cup second round three weeks ago.
But since then 24-year-old Safin has won the Madrid Masters and played some excellent tennis against Lleyton Hewitt and Guillermo Canas this week.
In Sunday's final, Safin is looking to add his fifth Masters Series title, after victories in Canada and Paris 2000, Paris 2002 and in Madrid recently.
His opponent in the title match, 25-year-old Stepanek became the first qualifier to reach an ATP Masters Series final since Max Mirnyi at 2001 Stuttgart and looks to become the first qualifier to win an Masters Series title since Albert Portas at 2001 Hamburg.
But history isn't on Stepanek's side. The last Czech player to win a Masters Series title was Petr Korda in Stuttgart seven seasons ago.
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