Safin pushed to limit by Becker

MELBOURNE, Jan 15 (Reuters) Former champion Marat Safin had his endurance tested to the limit by Germany's Benjamin Becker before coming through 5-7 7-6 3-6 6-3 6-4 in the first round of the Australian Open today.

The 26th seed struggled to cope with the terrific court speed and angled groundstrokes of Becker, the man most noted for ending Andre Agassi's career at last year's US Open, before he finally prevailed in three hours and 26 minutes.

''I think we had a great match but I think I had the more experience and I hit some great shots,'' Safin said in a courtside interview.

''I knew he beat Agassi and he has a lot of respect from the players, he's a very tough opponent.'' Safin was playing at Melbourne Park for the first time since winning the 2005 title after injury ruled him out last year, and Becker was in no mood to give him easy passage.

The German broke in game 11 of the opener before serving out to win it 7-5 in 42 minutes. Safin's frustration at the world number 57's tireless running showed at 5-6 in the second when he slammed his racquet to the floor.

But Safin held his focus to win the tiebreak 7-2 before Becker broke for 3-1 in the third and went on to hold for 6-3, a code violation compounding Safin's misery after he shattered his racquet frame in another show of temper.

Safin hit back again, breaking in the sixth game of the fourth set before setting up a tense decider as the match stretched into the early hours of the morning.

The Russian claimed the decisive break to lead 3-2 in the fifth and held on, sealing the win when Becker ballooned a forehand wide.

Safin will now play Israel's Dudi Sela for a place in the third round, where he could face American sixth seed Andy Roddick.

REUTERS SAM RAI2007