In the first game of his match Saturday against Andre Agassi, young Californian Taylor Dent hit a 142 m.p.h. serve, the fastest of the year on the ATP Tour–and lost the point.
That’s the way it went for Dent, 19, who showed plenty of potential but lost to Agassi 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the Ericsson Open.
The two combined on a series of brilliant rallies and Agassi won most of them. Midway through the first set Dent, ranked 178th, held his palms to the sky as if to say, “What do I have to do?”
Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten, seeded and ranked No. 1, won his opening match by beating Hicham Arazi 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4.
Also advancing on the men’s side were No. 6 Magnus Norman, No. 8 Patrick Rafter, No. 10 Alex Corretja, No. 11 Arnaud Clement, No. 13 Dominik Hrbaty and No. 16 Mark Philippoussis, who beat Michael Chang 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.
In women’s play, second-seeded Lindsay Davenport, No. 4 Jennifer Capriati and No. 5 Serena Williams won after first-round byes. No. 7 Elena Dementieva was leading 6-2, 2-0 when American Alexandra Stevenson retired because of a strained back.
