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MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERS

April 14, 2009

Marat Safin

MONTE CARLO, MONACO

M. SAFIN/L. Hewitt
6-4, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Marat.

Q. You must be pleased you have beaten a guy who just won a title on clay. It's a good sign for you.
MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, well, but he arrived like two hours before the match. Not really hard thing to do. But he played well. Just a little bit out of -- took advantage that he is not used to these balls, I guess, and conditions were not really at his best. But that's why he missed a couple of easy shots in important moments, and I took advantage of it and won the match.
So nothing great. Nothing incredible to write about.

Q. Were you satisfied with the way you moved on the court?
MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, well, I spend a couple of days in Spain, five days it took me. Just enough time to get used to the courts. Was lucky to play on Tuesday, so I had the extra day so I could play a couple of sets here with some players. So helped a lot.

Q. Next is Nicolas Lapentti.
MARAT SAFIN: Well, tough opponent. We played only once nine years ago. Tough player. Got back to top 50, I guess. He knows how to play. Has a lot of experience. We'll see how it goes. I think he's playing pretty well. Had a tough match against Stepanek. We'll see.

Q. What is your overall feeling about how you're playing at the moment?
MARAT SAFIN: I take it day to day. I'm not really under a lot of pressure. I just try to enjoy as much as I can see I can enjoy it. Be on the court. Not an easy thing to do.

Q. You manage to have good sensations during the match?
MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, well, but it's a little bit tough to play when you know the guy's coming, just arriving, and you have to win. So it's a little bit of pressure there. But overall I served well, I moved around pretty well, so it helped a lot to be comfortable in the court and basically to build up the game running around. It's a little bit easier to play this way on the clay court.

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