(Photo credit: AFP)
The Thailand Open is the favorite tournament of the seventh-seed Russian, and this was his earliest career loss. What is even worse, is that the already frustrated Safin was denied his 400th career match win! Safin struck 33 unforced errors while his underdog opponent fired a dozen aces and 13 winners.
For Petzschner, ranked 131st in the world, this was one of the biggest wins of his career.
Safin had earlier pulled out of Russia's team for this month's Davis Cup semi-final against Argentina in Buenos Aires, citing personal commitments as he attempts to climb the rankings, by earning points before the end of the year.
