Points won by each set: [ 30-17, 43-36, 38-34 ]
Points won directly behind the serve:
24 % Federer – 20 of 81
18 % Safin – 22 of 117
The first Masters 1000 title in career of the 21-year-old Federer [14], who needed 122 minutes to dispatch his 1.5 year older opponent. Safin [5] didn’t feel his groundstrokes and the serve throughout the match (played twice as many points as Federer on his serve in the 2nd set), and found himself on a verge of humiliation as he was losing already 0:2* in the 3rd set (nevertheless the 2nd set was exceptionally long regardless of the scoreline because consisted of 13 deuces in 5 games). Then the Swiss lost his focus for a short period of time, allowing Safin to get three straight games, including two breaks. “It’s been an unbelievable tournament for me,” said the 11th-seeded Federer. “I played some really good tennis today. It was probably the best match of my career. I never thought I would a win a tournament on clay because I lost my first 11 matches on the tour on clay.”
Federer’s route to his 3rd title:
1 Nicolas Lapentti 6-1, 6-4
2 Bohdan Ulihrach 6-3 6-0
3 Adrian Voinea 7-5, 6-4
Q Gustavo Kuerten 6-0, 1-6, 6-2
S Max Mirnyi 6-4, 6-4
W Marat Safin 6-1, 6-3, 6-4