 Marat Safin and Federer played each other 12 times , with Federer leading 10 – 2 . Federer and Safin turned pro within one year of each other , with Safin turning pro in 1997 and Federer in 1998 . Federer leads 4 – 1 on hard courts , 3 – 0 on grass , and 3 – 0 on clay courts , while Safin leads 1 – 0 on carpet . Notable meetings include Federer 's defeating Safin at the 2002 Hamburg Masters to win the first Masters 1000 title of his career , as well as Federer 's emerging victorious in the semifinals of the 2004 Tennis Masters Cup , after winning a tiebreak 20 – 18 on his eighth match point . Federer also defeated Safin in the finals of the 2004 Australian Open to capture his first Australian Open and second Grand Slam tournament title . However , Safin defeated Federer in the 2005 Australian Open semifinals , having saved one match point in the fourth @-@ set tiebreak , to end a 26 @-@ match winning streak by Federer . They met each other five times in Grand Slam tournaments , with Federer leading 4 – 1 . 
