PETE ZIEBRON in CINCINNATI
Early in the 2nd set, Taylor Dent blasted a 149 MPH ace to close out a game against Rafael Nadal. Pete Ziebron Images
CINCINNATI- Despite the fact that world #83 Taylor Dent had a higher ranking than 3 other Americans who received Wild Cards into the main draw of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters 1000 and would need to win 2 qualifying matches to get into the main draw, Dent ratcheted up his powerful serve into the low 140's and beat Go Soeda and Jarkko Niemenen in qualifying to advance.
Waiting for Dent in the 1st round of the main draw was world #24, Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, a foe whom Dent defeated in the 1st round of last year's US Open in 4 sets. The match was played on center court and like their match last year, Lopez did not have answers for Dent's cannon serves and strong groundstrokes and lost in straight sets 6-3 6-2.
Former WTA player Jennifer (Hopkins) Dent warms up with her husband Taylor 4 hours prior to his 2nd round match with world #1 Rafael Nadal. Pete Ziebron Images
After a day off on Tuesday, the top 4 players on the ATP would see their first action in Cincinnati as tennis fans were treated to a cavalcade of top notch tennis on center court at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Wednesday. World #3 Novak Djokovic would begin the day session, followed by top ranked Rafael Nadal, #4 Andy Murray and two-time Cincinnati Champion Andy Roddick would conclude the daytime agenda. Defending Cincinnati Champion and world #2 Roger Federer would be featured in the evening session.
Dent would meet Rafael Nadal during the hottest time of the day and started slowly, dropping the first set 6-2. However, Dent would bring the crowd to its feet as he crushed a 149 MPH ace down the center of the court to close out a game and stay on serve in the early stages of the 2nd set. Dent then proceeded to break Nadal to gain control of the set; however, he would fail to consolidate the break and the set would remain on serve until Dent was broken at 5-5. Nadal would go on to serve out the match and advance to the 3rd round.
Taylor Dent could be satisfied that he played a solid set of tennis against the world #1 and after the match, Nadal praised Dent's serving abilities: "Well, not easy to return his second serve. For sure the first is more difficult, no? But the second serve is fast, too. It's coming with spins, different slice, kick. So wasn't easy to return."
Twenty-one months ago, Taylor Dent was ranked 879th, primarily due to being sidelined from back surgery. Last month in Atlanta, he reached his first quarterfinal since Tokyo in October 2005 and seeks to continue to climb in the ATP rankings.
This week, Dent's wife Jennifer is accompanying him in Cincinnati along with their baby boy Declan who was born this January. These days, family man Taylor Dent has a brand new perspective on and off the court: "You know, just tennis can be so frustrating at times. It can really beat you down, you know, emotionally. So after a tough day of practice or a bad loss, you walk off the court and you see the little man there just wobbling his head and smiling at you, it makes it nice."
Taylor Dent and his 140+ MPH serves will be on the ATP radar when the US Open field is drawn next week. Pete Ziebron Images
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