NEW YORK -- When things go wrong, as they often do for Marat Safin, he cocks his head and flails his arms like a conductor trying to coax every ounce of drama from a Russian symphony.

There were discordant moments and attacks of angst Thursday at the U.S. Open before despair ultimately turned to triumph for Safin. He nearly exhausted his allotment of tiebreakers but outlasted big-serving Croat Ivan Ljubicic in the second round, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5).

For nearly 3½ hours, Ljubicic had the demonstrative defending champion flailing, and then some. Safin buried his head in his hands, slammed balls into the net and directed at least one obscene gesture toward himself.

"I'm like this. I can't change," he said. "It's difficult to play the other way -- to be quiet on the court and nice to everybody. I'm getting angry with me, my coach, my father, everybody."

He smiled and noted: "I'm doing better. I didn't break any rackets today."

Perhaps only because he won. Safin, trying to shake a yearlong slump compounded by injuries, rarely looked like the player who stunned the tennis world by routing Pete Sampras in last year's final.

But in the tiebreakers Safin was poised, aggressive and a little lucky, and he closed out the win with a 136 mph ace.

"I was a little bit scared but passed through," he said. "My tennis is coming back. Each time I feel better and better."

After winning the first-set tiebreak, Safin was up 3-0 in the second when Ljubicic took an injury timeout. ATP trainer Juergen Dess massaged his lower back as the Croatian player lay face down on center court at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The treatment worked. Ljubicic recovered and the two men traded serves of over 130 mph. Each player managed just one break and their huge serves produced a combined 37 aces, 21 for Ljubicic and 16 for Safin. Ljubicic made 65 unforced errors to 38 for Safin.

The end came on Safin's third match point after he had often been frustrated by mistakes that left him with his head hanging.

Only 21, Safin fears he has already peaked, and he's dubious about recapturing the form that overwhelmed Sampras a year ago.

"It was too perfect," Safin said. "I cannot play like this all the time. It can happen once in my life -- last year."

As if to prove it, in 2001 Safin hasn't won a tournament and has reached only one final. His best Grand Slam showing came at Wimbledon, where he advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Ivanisevic. He has been slowed by back and knee injuries but says he's healthy now.

Safin went through three coaches in 2000 and this year hired seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander, who has worked with the Russian on his tactics and temper.

"I'm not so confident like last year, so I have to start from the beginning, from the basics," Safin said. "Had a bad year -- a horrible year, I could say. Better times will come for sure. I want to win a few more Grand Slam tournaments, and it will be perfect.

"And I will win," he added with a laugh. "Otherwise I shoot myself."

Despite the marathon, the Open remained largely upset-free. Four-time champion Pete Sampras won the final match of the night, beating qualifier Andre Sa 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3.

"They're all tough," Sampras said. "All these guys are out to knock me out."

Second seed and double U.S. Open champion Andre Agassi survived a second-round scare when he scored a hard-fought 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) victory over Chilean Nicolas Massu.

Massu, playing inspired tennis, kept Agassi on centre court for three hours and 20 minutes as he came back from a break down in the fourth set and saved triple match point in the 10th game to extend a match in doubt until the fourth-set tie-break.

Agassi finally asserted himself as he raced in to a 6-0 lead in the tie-break before eventually winning it 7-1.

A recurrent shoulder injury forced American Jan-Michael Gambill to retire trailing Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 4-1.

Earlier, ninth-seeded Tim Henman shrugged off a peculiar odd-year Open jinx, defeating Fernando Meligeni 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Henman, a semifinalist at Wimbledon, has lost in the first or second round of every Open he's played in an odd-numbered year since his debut here in 1995. Now he's in the third round after Thursday's victory.

He won the first two sets, then drifted through the third before putting Meligeni away.

Henman shrugged off 38 unforced errors and won 44 of 55 first-serve points.

In other matches, former No. 1 Marcelo Rios defeated No. 22 Andrei Pavel 7-5, 6-4, 6-0.

Information from Reuters was used in this story.