Safin suffers blow to U.S. Open seeding hopes

By Simon Cambers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former U.S. Open champion Marat Safin suffered a blow to his hopes of being seeded at Flushing Meadows this month when he lost 3-6 6-3 6-2 by German Denis Gremelmayr in the Los Angeles quarter-finals on Friday.

The world number 44 overpowered the German early on but was eventually worn down in an hour and 45 minutes.

World number 89 Gremelmayr made just seven unforced errors and Safin's game broke down, sending the German through to a meeting with top seed Andy Roddick or Frenchman Marc Gicquel.

"I made a couple of mistakes, the guy started to feel much more comfortable on the court and the momentum was gone," fifth seed Safin told reporters.

"I didn't serve very well in the third set and the balls are pretty slow so it was difficult for my game. I could not change it by serving and volleying. It was perfect for him because he was playing very simple tennis."

Initially, Safin looked in great touch as he stormed to a 5-1 lead, but the warning signs were there when it took him two attempts to serve out for the set.

Gremelmayr was running down everything Safin could throw at him and an early break at the start of the second set gave him confidence.

He held the advantage to force a deciding set and three Safin double-faults gave the German the first of two breaks as he eased to the semi-finals of a hardcourt event for the first time.

Safin must now hope for a good performance next week in Washington if he is to earn one of the 32 seeded berths in New York, not that he seemed overly concerned

"It's ok if I am not seeded," he said. "Yes, it would be good if I am, but I am not going to shoot myself if I am not."

Gremelmayr said beating Safin was a big achievement.

"For sure, it's one of my best wins," Gremelmayr said. "The key was just to put the ball back as much as possible. It was not so easy at the beginning. He was playing very strong but I think I did a good job."

American sixth seed Mardy Fish fired eight aces as he reached his second semi-final of the year with a 6-4 6-4 win over Frenchman Florent Serra.

Fish next plays either third seed Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina or American qualifier Amer Delic.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)