By Joshua Mason
Daily Bruin Staff
Taylor Dent of Newport Beach made himself an early fan favorite Wednesday by defeating sixth seed Carlos Moya of Spain, 6-3, 6-4.
Moya, fresh off a red clay tournament victory in Croatia, seemed to have a difficult time transitioning to the blue hard court surface at UCLA.
“He may not have been at the top of his game today,” Dent said after the victory. “It’s difficult to fly in on Monday from a tournament across the world, and play at the top of your game.”
Whatever the circumstances, it was Dent that dictated the ups and downs of the. The young power server dished out 16 aces to Moya’s one, though his inexperience was obvious at a few points in the match. Dent often struggled to maintain his composure, double-faulting seven times.
“I played a lot of shaky points out there,” Dent said. “With my game and my age, that’s probably going to be commonplace for a little while. But I’m bouncing back a lot better. Six months ago, I would have probably lost this match, but bad points didn’t affect me as much today.”
In the first set, Dent came out strong with a 5-1 lead over Moya. He lost his steam before capturing the set, and nearly let Moya make a run at him before breaking him at 6-3.
In the second set, the two players held serve for the first six games, until Dent broke away in the pivotal seventh game and never looked back.
In one game, Dent served up four aces, all reaching close to 130 mph. A frustrated Moya could only watch the rockets fly past him.
“That’s really going to be the key for this week,” Dent said. “If I can serve well, I think I’m going to be very difficult to beat.”
Though the American was unable to reach the 142-mph mark he set at Wimbledon, he did reach 139 mph early in the second set.
“I have a very bad habit of watching the speed gun,” Dent said. “They should put a blindfold on me for that. After every serve I’m checking it out to see how I would have done.”
On one occasion during the second set, Dent sent a monstrous overhand shot that ricocheted into the stands to graze the face of a fan. An apologetic Dent sent the woman his racket after the game, asking for forgiveness.
“That’s something that I could have let affect me during that final set, but it would have been my own fault,” Dent said. “I feel bad, but those kinds of things just happen.”
In Wednesday first-round doubles action:
- In a battle of former NCAA champions, the No. 1 seeded Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, easily won their first round doubles match against Alex Kim and Cecil Mamiit 6-2, 6-4.
The Bryans led Stanford to a national championship in 1998, helping themselves to a singles and doubles title along the way. The next year they turned pro.
Kim, also a former Cardinal, picked up where the brothers left off, winning the singles title in 1999 and 2000.
Mamiit, who played for USC, won the singles championship in 1996.
Bob Bryan, also in the singles draw, will play No. 8 seed Tommy Haas Thursday.
- Former UCLA player Justin Gimelstob and teammate Alex O’Brien defeated the team of Justin Blake and Scott Humphries 6-3, 6-3.
- Paul Kilderry and Sandon Stolle beat Robby Ginepri and Phillip King 6-3, 6-2.
- Myles Wakefield and Glenn Weiner beat Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3).
In Wednesday singles action:
- No. 7 seed Magnus Norman of Sweden defeated Cyril Saulnier of France 6-4, 7-6(4).