DPA
London, June 25 (DPA) Sleeping giant Marat Safin found his game at the perfect time as he rocked the hierarchy at the Wimbledon Championships with a comprehensive second-round knockout of Serb Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 here Wednesday. The shock victory sent the fragile third-seeded Serb out of trophy contention with the heavy titles favourites now down to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

2005 Australian Open winner Safin, his game in tatters in recent seasons due to injury and ranked 75th, rose to the occasion to win his 13th Wimbledon match and improve to 2-0 over the 21-year-old Djokovic.

“The way I’m playing now, I can go far, but it’s step by step,” said the winner, a two-time Grand Slam champion.

Djokovic won his first Grand Slam title in Australia in January and was a semi-finalist at the second major of the year, the French Open, earlier this month.
DPA