Tennis: Dent rallies to reach quarters at Mercedes Cup

LOS ANGELES - Taylor Dent of Newport Beach rallied to defeat Max

Mirnyi of Belarus, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-5, in the second round of the $400,000

Mercedes-Benz Cup at the UCLA Tennis Center.

Dent, at age 20 a rising star on the Association of Tennis

Professionals Tour, advanced Thursday to his first singles quarterfinal

in a big-purse ATP Tour event, coming back to beat Mirnyi.

In another second-round match, Belgian Xavier Malisse surprised No. 2

seed Marat Safin of Russia, 7-5, 6-3, setting up a Dent-Malisse

quarterfinal today. Safin won the U.S. Open last year.

In the first round Wednesday, Dent upset No. 6 seed Carlos Moya of

Chile, 6-3, 6-4, after recording serves up to 142 mph against the former

French Open winner.

In the second set of the Moya match, one fan sitting in the front row

behind one of the baselines was struck near the left eye by a Dent

overhead, but the fan remained in the stands and iced the injury. As sort

of a get-well gesture, Dent gave the fan one of his rackets.

Dent, whose emotional play at Wimbledon fired up the crowd, is one of

two young Americans playing in the Mercedes-Benz Cup quarterfinals.

In the second round Thursday, fifth-seeded Jan-Michael Gambill

defeated Paul Goldstein, 6-1, 6-4, in a clash of young American

baseliners.

If Dent beats Malisse, the former Corona del Mar High standout will

face either Pete Sampras or Magnus Norman in the semifinals.

At Wimbledon, Dent, playing fifth-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia

in the second round, registered a 144-mph serve, the fastest ever

recorded at Wimbledon.

Dent eventually lost the match, but provided an exciting rally in the

fourth set to force a tie-breaker, which he dominated, 7-2, as the match

was extended to five sets.

Dent, who was down two match points in the fourth set, hammered his

record serve at Wimbledon to put him in front in the tie-breaker, 3-1.

Prior to Wimbledon, Dent won a title on the international challenger

circuit, capturing the Powder Byrne Trophy at the $50,000 grass-court

event in Surbiton, Great Britain.

Earlier this season, Dent, who turned pro in 1998, pushed No. 2-ranked

Andre Agassi at the Ericsson Open in Miami and No. 1-ranked Gustavo Kuerten at the Tennis Masters Series in Indian Wells, before losing.

In the first game of his match against Agassi, Dent hit a 142-mph

serve, the fastest of the year on the ATP Tour -- and lost the point.

In January, Dent upset top-seeded Norman at the Gold Flake Open in

Madras, India, giving the Swedish star a wake-up call.

Part of Dent’s success this year, he said, has come from a coaching

change. Dent had trained with his father, Phil, a 1974 Australian Open

finalist, for several years. But Taylor approached Eliot Teltscher

looking for a change.

Teltscher, a former United States Tennis Association coach, agreed to

a two-year contract with Dent and left the USTA.

Dent, who trains out of Costa Mesa Tennis Center, won the 1996 CIF

Southern Section singles championship as a freshman for Coach Tim Mang’s

Sea Kings. He stopped playing high school after that spring to focus on a

pro career.