By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Reporter
Despite his booming 140 mile-per-hour serves, few in Los Angeles knew who Taylor Dent was earlier this week. Despite his top 50 ranking, even fewer knew who Xavier Malisse was.
But after a fast-paced 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 quarterfinal win by Malisse over a very game Dent, few on hand at the Mercedes-Benz Cup will forget these two unlikely upset advancers.
The match was a classic exercise in momentum swings. Dent's monstrous serve was broken to start the match, but he quickly broke back-to-back Malisse service games en route to a 6-3 first set win, much to the dismay of an exasperated Malisse.
"I was a little disappointed at the first set," Malisse said. "I was feeling the ball great in warm-ups, so it was frustrating."
Dent commented after the match that he believed Malisse was prepared to throw in the towel after the first set. But the Belgian, who already has to his credit three other semifinal appearances this year, stormed back in the second set when he fought off six consecutive break points, including a triple break point at 1-1.
"It was right there in the second set that I had Love-40 and I just tanked," Dent said. "He hit a second serve 108 miles per hour up the T, and I didn't get it back."
The momentum in his court, Malisse broke Dent at love to take the second set 7-5, much to the astonishment of the pro-Dent crowd. Another Malisse break, this time to go up 2-0 in the third set, meant a semifinal berth was just four service holds away.
Dent remained feisty, forcing a break point while down 4-2, but Malisse froze him at the net with one of his startlingly precise passing shots. One more service hold gave Malisse the third set and the match. In all,Malisse saved 12 of 14 break point opportunities, many times slightly grazing the lines.
"I forced him to beat me by hitting shots within six inches of the line," said Dent, who used his blindingly fast serve to upset No. 6 seed Carlos Moya in the first round. "I didn't serve well yesterday or today. I served well against Moya."
Malisse moves on to the semifinals, where a matchup with either Pete Sampras or Magnus Norman looms. Unconcerned with making a name for himself, Malisse may have done so all the same.
"It's hard to make a name for yourself between Agassi, Sampras, Kuerten, and Gambill," Malisse said. "All of a sudden there's this Malisse guy, and people say, 'who the hell is he?'"
It would seem now that more and more people can answer that question.