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KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Marat Safin hit another low Thursday when he lost to American qualifier Bobby Reynolds 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) in the first round of the Sony Ericsson Open.
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Safin, a two-time Grand Slam champion, fell to 1-5 in 2008. He hasn't won a title since the 2005 Australian Open, and his ranking has fallen from 56th to 90th since the start of the year.
The 28-year-old Russian said he's healthy and not tired of tennis.
"If I was tired, I would have stopped a long time ago," Safin said. "I'm trying, and it doesn't come out my way. But that doesn't mean that I have to stop because I'm not winning matches. I enjoy what I'm doing. I have plenty of cash to do what I want to do, so what I want to do is play tennis."
The latest loss came even though Safin lost serve only once. He led 3-1 in the final tiebreaker, but had five unforced errors in the last eight points. Safin finished with 46 unforced errors, 12 more than Reynolds.
Reynolds, ranked 104th, snapped a four-match losing streak.
Also eliminated was Mardy Fish, who beat Roger Federer en route to a runner-up finish last week at the Pacific Life Open. Arnaud Clement caught Fish on the rebound and won 6-3, 6-3.
"It's obviously a little disappointing to go out so early here," Fish said. "But I'm going to take a lot of memories from last week."
France's Michael Llodra, one of five players with two ATP titles this year, was beaten by Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5). Buenos Aires runner-up Jose Acasuso beat Santiago Ventura of Spain 6-4, 6-3 and faces a second match this year with Lleyton Hewitt.
Dominik Hrbaty's 12th consecutive appearance at Key Biscayne ended quickly when he lost to 19-year-old Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. The match was the first since the U.S. Open for Hrbaty, who is coming back from elbow surgery.
In women's play, Ai Sugiyama beat Russian 17-year-old Anastasia Pivovarova 6-3, 7-6 (7-2). Another Russian, 19-year-old qualifier Alisa Kleybanova, beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2.
Seeded players had first-round byes and begin action on Friday.
