Lyon (France), Oct 08: Fabrice Santoro scored a popular win over Russian number seven Marat Safin in the Grand Prix de Lyon.
Safin, the former US Open champion who has been out with a wrist injury in recent months, has now gone over five months without a match victory, with his last win coming in the semi-finals of the Barcelona event in April.
"That's not the real Marat out there. He's been hurt and is lacking in confidence," Santoro admitted after his 6-1 6-4 first round victory yesterday.
Safin said he was setting modest goals. "My wrist is getting better and better. To win one match in the rest of the year would be good. I need to start from somewhere."
American Robby Ginepri got his first victory of the ATP indoor season under his belt with a straight sets 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 win over Raemon Sluiter of Holland.



Ginepri said he was eager to get back to match play after several weeks of intense practice in preparation for the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon - and he even had time to take in the sites of this French city with his British actress-girlfriend Minnie Driver at the weekend.



Thomas Enqvist, who came through qualifying, won his fourth match in four days here in Lyon by taking a pair of tie-breaks over South Africa's Wayne Ferreira.


Bureau Report