Safin battles past Zverev for Thailand semi-final place

BANGKOK, Sep 29 (Reuters) A resurgent Marat Safin battled for more than two hours today to beat German teenager Mischa Zverev 7-6 5-7 7-5 and reach the semi-finals of the Thailand Open.

Double grand slam winner Safin, who has not won a title since January 2005, won the first-set tiebreak but became riled when he failed to take his chances in the second, allowing the energetic Zverev to creep back into the match.

Safin, a former world number, held his game together, however, and broke the 198th-ranked German's serve at 5-5 to reach his third tournament semi-final of the year.

''He was difficult to play, he had nothing to lose,'' Safin told a news conference. ''He was serving well with good volleys and he made few mistakes in his returns.

''He was putting pressure on me all the time. I had to go to a third set and I wasn't happy.'' The Russian, who slipped out of the world top 100 earlier this year, said it was too soon to tell if his career was picking up after almost two years in the doldrums.

''I'm fighting, I'm doing things right on the court, I'm still making mistakes but I'm still there,'' he said.

''If I continue this way I will have the opportunity to win tournaments again. I have to wait and see.'' Safin will meet third seed James Blake in the last four of the indoor event after the American got through a tricky tie with Finn Jarkko Nieminen, which ended 6-2 2-6 7-5.

Blake cruised through the first set and looked on course for his third straight-sets win of the tournament, but the fifth-seeded Finn made things tough for him.

''My serve was off and it was difficult winning points on my second serve,'' Blake told reporters.

''He was dictating the play, but I started to feel better and came through in the end.'' REUTERS AB PM1941