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Marat Safin crushed Denis Istomin to enter the St Petersburg Open semi-finals on Friday. Safin defeated Denis Istomin by 6-0, 7-6.
Safin won the first set in less than 25 minutes .He took a 2-0 lead in the second against 101st-ranked Uzbek.
The 29-year-old Russian, who has announced his retirement from tennis after next month's Paris Masters, served for the match at 5-4, but Istomin broke back and forced a tie-breaker two games later.
The former world number one eventually triumphed over the Uzbek with his 12th ace. He will face qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky in Saturday's semi-finals. World number 93 Stakhovsky defeated Bjoern Phau of Germany by 6-2, 7-5.
Safin, who is chasing his third title in St Petersburg said, "I guess, it was just too easy in the first set.”
"As a result, I lost concentration in the second set and when I lost my serve at 5-4, I started having some doubts whether I would be able to pull it through," he added.
"But I got lucky in the tiebreak as I was gifted a few points by my opponent."
