No regrets for Safin as his tennis career draws to a close

LOS ANGELES - Marat Safin holds no regrets on ending his tennis career in November despite reaching the quarter-finals of the Los Angeles Open for a third consecutive year with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Latvian Ernests Gulbis.

“I’ll need to take six months off [when he finishes at Paris Bercy in the autumn] just [to] realise how things have changed, that I have no more tennis career,” said the 29-year-old double Grand Slam champion and former number one Wednesday.

“I need to learn about life after tennis,” said the 12-year ATP veteran. “There will be no more match points, no more deuces, it will be something different.”

Safin is to finally get a day off Thursday after playing four matches in three days including a Monday night exhibition which he won over Pete Sampras.

He will face a quarter-final Friday against two-time champion and top seed Tommy Haas, who started his week with a defeat of American Jesse Levine 6-1, 6-3 as he played his first match since losing in the Wimbledon semi-finals a month ago to Roger Federer.

Charismatic Safin said that he won’t be bothered by leaving a sport which he says has grown tougher and less friendly over the past six or seven years.

“It’s too professional, it’s not fun like it was before,” said the number 55 who won 15 titles. “Nobody is friends with anybody, everyone travels with his group, there is no more friendship like when I could hang out with [Patrick] Rafter or [Mark] Philippoussis.

“There is even someone to carry the bags. I don’t have an entourage, I don’t like dealing with so many people. I don’t have any friends on the tour - but it’s not sad for me, don’t worry,” Safin said.

“Tennis is now just a huge business, and everyone is hungry for money, of course.”

Elsewhere on court, Russian third seed Dmitry Tursunov was forced out by a left ankle injury, giving a 6-4, 0-1 second-round win to 205-ranked Australian qualifier Carsten Ball, who reached the first quarter-final of his career.

Ball will next face American John Isner, who got lucky after turning his ankle but still managing a 6-3, 7-6 (11) second-round defeat of Marcos Baghdatis.

Isner, an Indianapolis semi-finalist last weekend, was seen by the trainer after he crashed to the cement late in the second-set tiebreaker.

After treatment, he was able to walk to the sidelines and resume the match, which he won a few moments later.

“I thought it was worse than it was,” said Isner, who withdrew from the doubles as a precaution.

“But I don’t think I could have gone three sets. I really had to win it in two. I stayed calm when I was finishing the match. I didn’t panic. I knew I was playing well and serving well.”

He struck 11 aces to squeeze into his fourth quarter-final of the