BOBBY REYNOLDS?????????

Bobby Reynolds figures he never will reach the top level of tennis, the place where players such as Marat Safin win Grand Slam titles.

It didn't matter on Thursday, when Reynolds, the late-blooming American who got into the Sony Ericsson Open as a qualifier, outlasted the fading former world No. 1.

Reynolds' 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (5) victory over Safin didn't change his belief that elite-level tennis isn't in his future. After all, a tennis career wasn't really part of his plan until he developed into the No. 1 NCAA singles player at Vanderbilt University and turned pro after his junior season.

Cracking the top 100 of the world rankings has been a struggle for Reynolds since then. So beating Safin is significant even if the Russian hasn't been in the top 20 since early 2006.

"I already had a lot of confidence, but obviously that gives me a lot more," said Reynolds, 25. "In this game, it's all about confidence."

Safin seems to have lost some. The 2000 U.S. Open and 2005 Australian Open champion has won just one match in five events this year after a lackluster 2007 by his standards.

The questions for Safin, 28, were about his desire to continue playing. He said he still enjoys playing and hopes " the good days will come" again at some point.

"I have plenty of cash to do what I want to do, so what I want to do is play tennis," said Safin, who's earned more than $13 million in career prize money.

Reynolds admitted to being nervous early while playing Safin on stadium court. Still, he pulled out the first-set tiebreaker and rallied from down 3-1 in the other.

More results like this, and Reynolds, an outgoing personality who is popular with other players, might stick around on tour for longer than he suspected when he left college.

"I feel like I've done better than I thought I would do," Reynolds said. "Do I think I have the potential to [be] top 10? No. But do I think I can stay anywhere from 40 to 100? Yes!"

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."