Dent forced to exit early from Open
Taylor Dent continually frustrated No. 1-seed Andre Agassi in their
rain-delayed fourth-round match at the U.S. Open in New York Tuesday.
But the pain in Dent’s leg from a torn thigh muscle was too
frustrating for him and forced the former Corona del Mar High
standout to retire after he lost the third set to the two-time
tournament champion.
Hobbling because of the injury, Dent retired after he dropped the
third set to give Agassi a 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-5 lead.
“It’s a shame,” Dent said in a post-match news conference. “But
it’s nothing serious I am sure ... hopefully I will be out there and
kicking some butts quite soon.”
Originally scheduled to play Monday, but postponed because of
rain, the two players were forced to sit for seven hours Tuesday
before the precipitation finally halted and play was able to resume.
Delays continued throughout the match, with the longest coming
after Agassi had taken a 5-4 lead in the first set, 31 minutes into
the match.
When the players returned to action 35 minutes later, Dent broke
Agassi’s serve to pull even in the set and went on to take a one-set
lead by winning a tiebreaker, 7-5.
Dent, 22, had opportunities to expand upon that lead in the second
set, which began after another half-hour rain delay, but the
consistent restarts eventually took a toll on his hamstring. He began
to receive treatment on his leg in between sets and was noticeably
favoring the injury. He wore a wrap around the leg for the latter
portion of the match, but continued to play.
Agassi broke Dent’s serve, which averaged 120 mph on first serves
and 108 on second serves, in the 10th game of the second set to win
6-4. Dent again pushed the No. 1 ranked player to his limit in the
third set, losing 7-5, before calling it quits because of the leg
injury.
Dent had 44 winners compared to Agassi’s 43 in the match, but Dent
also committed 36 unforced errors. His serve-and-volley game caused
struggles for Agassi, but the start and stop nature of the match
eventually became too much trouble for Dent’s thigh injury.
“Taylor is a great competitor and a good guy,” Agassi said in his
post-match news conference. “To see him get injured in a big match is
just outright disappointing.”
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.