Dent leads Americans into quarterfinals
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Fourth-seeded Taylor Dent led three Americans with straight-sets victories Thursday into the quarterfinals of the RCA Championships. Dent, who defeated Germany’s Bjorn Phau 6-2, 6-2, was joined by American winners Robby Ginepri and Paul Goldstein at the Indianapolis Tennis Center.
Ginepri upset ninth-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan 6-0, 6-4 in only 46 minutes, and Goldstein beat Giovanni Lapentti of Ecuador 6-3, 6-2.
Karol Beck of Slovakia ousted Rajeev Ram 6-2, 6-4. Ram, a former ballboy at the tournament, went on to help Illinois win an NCAA doubles title.
In another third-round match, No. 7 seed Greg Rusedski of Great Britain remained undefeated in head-to-head matches with No. 12 Kenneth Carlsen, winning 7-6 (3), 6-2. It was his fifth triumph for the 2002 RCA winner in five meetings with the Dane since 1995.
Dent lost only 12 points in his eight service games, including three on double faults in the second set. Phau, who had lost in the first round of nine of his past 10 events before arriving with a 2-8 record, managed to save only one break point in the match. He was broken five times.
“My first serve was going very well. The second serve kind of faded at the end,” said Dent, 24-12 this year and seeking his third title.
Dent was effective at the net, winning 23 of 57 points there. His 19 winners included eight aces and a pair of backhand volleys in the match’s final game.
Ginepri needed just 16 minutes to win the opening set with temperatures in the upper 80s on Stadium Court.
“The quicker the match the better it is for the player,” said Ginepri, who improved to 13-14 this year. “I trained in Miami last week and the weather down there was brutal. It trains me for the more difficult conditions we’ll be facing this summer on the hardcourts.”4
The 22-year-old Ginepri lost only eight points in the opening set. He had six aces and a first-serve percentage of 79.
Paradorn, the runner-up to Roddick here two years ago, had only three aces.
“He didn’t look like the Paradorn I’ve seen before,” said Ginepri, who is 3-0 against him on the tour. “They were always real close matches. He definitely wasn’t on top of his game.”