Dent Off To Winning Start; Nieminen Returns

© Getty ImagesTaylor Dent improves to a 3-1 record against Ivan Ljubicic.

American Taylor Dent made the most of his wild card entry at Pilot Pen Tennis as he defeated Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-4 in 65 minutes on opening Sunday at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in New Haven.

The 28-year-old Dent, who has also been awarded a wild card for next week’s US Open, broke the Croat once in each set and won 91 per cent of his first service points – including all 13 points in the opening set – to post his ninth match win of the season. He next faces 14th-seeded Russian Igor Kunitsyn, who upset American James Blake last week in Cincinnati.

Dent, a former World No. 21, returned to the ATP World Tour season last season after three back surgeries sidelined him for two years. This season, he achieved his best result as a qualifier at the Sony Ericsson Open, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament in Miami. He reached the fourth round with wins over Top 20 players Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo before falling to Roger Federer.

Chilean Paul Capdeville set a second-round meeting with No. 2 seed Fernando Verdasco after capitalising on three of his 13 break points to dismiss Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 6-3. Nieminen was making his first appearance since undergoing wrist surgery back in May.

Capdeville had dropped eight straight tour-level matches beginning with a semi-final loss in May at the Estoril Open, but won the Challenger title earlier this month in Binghamton (d. Anderson).

Argentine Leonardo Mayer enjoyed a 100 per cent conversion rate on his three break point chances, ousting Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-4 to earn a clash with fourth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer. The 22 year old advanced to the semi-finals at the LA Tennis Open last month (l. to Ball).

Martin Vassallo Arguello failed to join his countryman as a first-round winner, succumbing to Marc Gicquel 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 33 minutes. Gicquel will next confront sixth-seeded American Sam Querrey, whom he has lost to in their previous two meetings, including last month in the Indianapolis quarter-finals. The 21-year-old Querrey is looking to win the Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge with a successful showing this week in New Haven.

Florent Serra will next meet fellow Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, the No. 10 seed, after defeating Belgian Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-3 in his opener. Serbian Janko Tipsarevic also advanced, up a set and a break when Italian Fabio Fognini retired from the match with left leg pain.