Wesley Moodie took advantage of Taylor Dent's erratic serve to extend the failures of top-seeded players in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships and advance to the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The No. 1 seed has never won in the 29-year history of the North America's only grass-court event.
"I lived up to expectations," Dent said after Moodie won 6-4, 6-1.
PHOTO: AFP
Dent, who won here in 2002, had 15 double faults and lost on match point when he was issued a code violation for smashing a ball over the stands. It was just his second loss in eight matches in Newport.
Ranked 29th by the ATP entering the week, Dent said he was frustrated by his inconsistent play. His serve was broken in the third, fifth and seventh games of the second set.
"I'm hurting a bit right now," Dent said of his emotional state. "That's why I'm ranked where I'm ranked. It happens to me. It's a reality check. It just shows I've got some work to do."
Moodie learned of the top seed's fate on Tuesday and joked that he was glad Dent was his opponent.
"I was quite happy I was going to play Taylor Dent," he said.
No. 2 Vince Spadea, advanced by beating Karol Kucera 6-4, 6-1.
"Lately, I haven't gotten good starts in my matches. He's making a comeback so he's pretty hungry. I was not taking it lightly to say the least," Spadea said.
Other seeded players who won were No. 3 Greg Rusedski, the defending champion, who took Robin Vik 6-2, 7-6 (5), and No. 7 Paul Goldstein, who ousted Florin Mergea 6-1, 6-3.
Michal Mertinak ousted the fifth-seeded Robby Ginepri 6-3, 6-4.
In other matches, Alexander Waske edged Daniele Bracciali 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6), and Antony Dupuis, a semifinalist in Newport last year, beat wild-card entrant Andrew Murray 6-4, 6-1.
Dusan Vemic advanced when Giovanni Lapentti retired with cramps trailing 2-3 in the third set.
Swedish open
Two-time defending champion Mariano Zabaleta beat 2002 winner Carlos Moya 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals at the Swedish Open.
Zabaleta, playing in his first tournament since injuring his left foot in April at Monte Carlo, will next face Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
Third-seeded Tommy Robredo advanced when Gael Monfils of France fell badly and had to retire while the Spaniard led 6-4, 4-2.
Also, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia saved a match point to beat Andreas Vinciguerra of Sweden 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5.
Zabaleta won the first-set tiebreaker from Moya with a forehand volley winner after a rare rush to the net.
The fourth-seeded Moya broke his racket after slamming it twice following the first set -- but was not warned by Swedish umpire Lars Graff.
Zabaleta broke Moya twice in the second for a 4-0 lead, and he clinched the match on Moya's serve when the Spaniard netted a return.
"I'm really happy to be in the quarterfinals," Zabaleta said. "I played good. I love this tournament.
"In the first set I was very focused, very concentrated. After winning it, I think my chances to win the match were bigger."
Berdych, 20 in September, overcame Spain's Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach Friday's quarterfinals.
"Tomas is a very good player, he's a young guy, but if I play like I did today I can win," Zabaleta said. "Carlos Moya is one of the best players in the world on clay."
Vinciguerra, a two-time Bastad finalist playing with a wild card, had match point on Youzhny at 6-5 in the second set, but the Russian prevailed in a tiebreaker and went on to set up a quarterfinal against Robredo.
Swiss Open
A pair of veterans played a lone set of tennis at the Swiss Open on Wednesday before drizzle and rain settled on this Alpine village.
Romanian qualifier Razvan Sabaul, 28, took a first set 6-4 over 32-year-old Armenian Sargis Sargsian in the morning before the weather settled in.
For the rest of the afternoon, crowds milled around and organizers prayed that forecasts for more of the same over the next few days would not materialize.
Sabaul had won his first ATP match of the season a day earlier as he got past fellow unknown Michael Lammer of Switzerland in the opening round.
Sargsian was handed a victory Monday when top seed Nikolay Davydenko had to quit leading 6-1, 1-0 with the same right wrist injury which forced him to stop in the Wimbledon second round against Jonas Bjorkman.
He faces a fitness race to try and help Russia past France in the Davis Cup quarter-finals next weekend in Moscow as the hosts go in without Marat Safin, due for Thursday knee surgery and out until the US Open in late August.
Among the three other matches which had not started by early evening was one featuring second seed Gaston Gaudio.
Last year's French Open winner, who skipped the grass-court season, was set to play for a quarter-final place against Italy's Davide Sanguinetti in the third meeting between the two and first in nearly three years.
Gaudio lost the 2002 Gstaad final to Alex Corretja.
"Not having played in a month, it's pretty difficult. I love coming back here. I was so close to winning but I couldn't do it. Maybe it can happen this year," the Argentine said.
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