Marat Safin paid tribute to coach Peter Lundgren after his brilliant victory over home favourite Lleyton Hewitt in the Australian Open final.
Safin lost the opening set 6-1 in just 23 minutes and trailed 4-1 in the third before staging a brilliant fightback with some inspired tennis.
The 25-year-old reeled off seven games in a row on his way to a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory and his second Grand Slam title, ending Hewitt's hopes of becoming the first home winner in Melbourne since 1976.
Safin won the US Open in 2000 with a stunning demolition of Pete Sampras and reached the final here in 2002 and 2004, but until now had never fulfilled his enormous potential.
However, working with Roger Federer's former coach Lundgren appears to have finally brought the best from the enigmatic Russian, and Safin was quick to praise the Swede's input.
"I never believed in myself before, until I started to work with him," said Safin. "It took us a little bit longer than usually people need to come up with results but it went in the right way."
