HAMBURG, Germany, May 20 -- Marat Safin, a 20-year-old Russian and 12th seed, advanced to his third final in four weeks Saturday with a 7-6 (10-8), 6-2 victory over defending champion Marcelo Rios of Chile at the the $2.95 million Tennis Masters Series - Hamburg.
After starting 2000 with a 1-5 record, Safin turned around his season after taking on former player Andrei Chesnokov as his coach.
He has won 17 of his last 18 matches and captured consecutive ATP Tour events in Barcelona and Mallorca.
Safin also defeated Rios in the first round in Rome last week. The Chilean did not lose a set in reaching the semifinals here and dropped to 13-4 all-time at this event.
In Sunday's best-of-five final, Safin will take on fifth seed Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, who ended the surprising run of Romanian qualifier Andrei Pavel, 6-3, 6-3.
Kuerten, who captured his sixth career crown in Santiago in March, will be playing in his third Tennis Masters Series final in seven weeks on Sunday. He reached the championship match at the Ericsson Open in Miami and Rome.
"I hope the third one will be the lucky one," Kuerten said. "I hope to break through tomorrow. It's already a great performance to be in three of five finals in the Masters Series."
However, Kuerten has an 0-3 lifetime mark against Safin, including five-set losses in the 1998 French Open and 1999 Australian Open.
Pavel advanced to his first career Tennis Masters Series semifinal by eliminating Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina in the quarterfinals. He became the first Romanian to reach the semifinals in Hamburg since Ilie Nastase in 1970.NEWLN:
