MELBOURNE, Australia -- Pete Sampras was intimidated in the first two sets against Marat Safin. He backed off on the serve that has helped him win a record 13 Grand Slam titles and he stayed behind the baseline so that the Russian couldn't pass him.

	Marat Safin hasn't taken a seat yet at the Australian Open. He reached the quarterfinals after beating Pete Sampras in four sets.

Safin took control when he broke Sampras' serve in the opening game and then withstood a comeback attempt to win 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8) Monday and advance to the Australian Open quarterfinals.

"It was a great match for both of us -- it was a great comeback from Pete," Safin said. "The people they were supporting him very much ... it was very difficult. But I played a great tiebreaker in the fourth and deserved to win."

Safin and Sampras were the only Grand Slam winners left in the fourth round at Melbourne Park.

"It's a tough one to lose," Sampras said. "I played well enough in the third and fourth to keep it going, but I didn't convert the points I needed."

Safin beat Sampras 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 to win the U.S. Open in 2000, the most one-sided result against a former champion in 25 years.

Although Sampras won last year's semifinal at the U.S. Open, the 21-year-old Russian is 4-3 against Sampras, who has a record 13 Grand Slam titles.

"He played phenomenal in the first couple of sets, it reminded me of the Open a couple of years ago," Sampras said. "When he gets going ... he's one of the best out there."

With seventh-seeded Tommy Haas the highest-ranking player still in contention, Safin is gaining as a favorite to win the year's first major. His next opponent is Wayne Ferreira.

"I have more experience than the other guys -- they've never won a Grand Slam. But I have very tough opponents ahead," Safin said. "Ferreira, it doesn't matter if he's won a Slam or not, he's tough."

Haas' best performance at a Grand Slam was a semifinal appearance at Melbourne in 1999. The German finished 2001 with a No. 8 ranking.

Only four seeded men reached the quarterfinals. No. 16 Thomas Johansson faces fellow Swede Jonas Bjorkman on Tuesday and No. 26 Jiri Novak plays Stefan Koubek of Austria.

Haas survived a match point before he angled a backhand volley crosscourt to beat Switzerland's Roger Federer 7-6 (3), 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 8-6 and advanced to a quarterfinal against Marcelo Rios.

Federer missed a match point on Haas' serve at 5-6 and 30-40 in the fifth set, then made five consecutive errors. Haas went ahead 7-6 and he served out in the next game.

A resurgent Rios had a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 win over Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.

Rios, who created a stir by describing the depth in the women's field as a "joke" after his third-round win over Alberto Martin, converted six of seven break points and shut down Lapentti, seeded 23rd.

But Rios was far from happy with his performance, saying he was still a long way off his best form.

"I used to play much better. Every time I compare myself with the Rios before, I think I was much better then," he said.

"When I was younger, I felt a lot better and I was able to recover quicker, but nowadays I'm not that good at recovering."

Rios made the final of the Australian Open in 1998 and held the top ranking for six weeks later that year before a series of injuries derailed his career.

Finally injury-free, Rios has been in great form over this past week, dropping just one set in getting to the quarterfinals where he will face either Haas.

He has produced some amazing trick shots over the past week, including shots behind his back, but the 26-year-old said he will need more than that if he wants to progress.

"This is not my best tennis. I have been playing pretty good, but I'm not consistent. I play one good match then I play 10 really bad," Rios said.

"I'm not concentrating when I need to be and I'm not giving it all when it is 5-1 or 5-0, but I'm much fitter right now.

"I'm feeling good on the court, I have no injuries and I'm just moving around pretty well."

Ferreira sealed a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 9-7 win over Spain's Albert Costa with an overhead smash after 4 hours, 10 minutes to advance to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal since 1994.

The 30-year-old South African, who served for the match in the fourth set before losing the set in a tiebreaker, dropped to his knees and then ran around the court waving in celebration.

Ferreira had won five of his 11 matches with Sampras, but is 0-2 against Safin.

"Right now, I think I'm playing well enough to beat anybody," Ferreira said. "It doesn't really matter who's left. It's up to me really."

One of the fittest and most consistent players on tour, Ferreira has played in each of the last 45 Grand Slam events, the second longest streak of any male player in the Open era.

"I get better with age. I'm slower, but I do last a little bit longer now," Ferreira said.

"My endurance level seems to be a little bit better. Now that I'm getting older, I've got to figure out new ways of beating the younger guys," he said.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.