Taylor aims to Dent Murray charge

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:46

Dent, 28, playing his first grand slam event since the 2006 Australian Open following a series of back operations that saw him fall from number 21 in the world to completely out of the rankings, fought his way through a four-hour second-round tussle with Ivan Navarro of Spain.

“My execution isn’t at the level I want it to be going into the match but that’s not going to stop me from battling for every point,” said Dent.

“That’s what won me the match so even if it’s 6-0 6-0 6-0 (to Murray) I’m going to try and give him everything I’ve got.

“Murray’s tough, I think we’ve played twice before and he’s beaten me both times,” the American said. “It’s going to be rough but there’s no way around it.”

Murray, meanwhile, was at a loss to explain his second-set blip after he scored a 6-2 3-6 6-0 6-2 victory over Paul Capdeville of Chile on a hot afternoon at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Having taken the first set, the Scot let the world number 87 back into the match as he seemed to struggle in the 80-degree heat on a still New York day.

Yet last year’s runner-up managed to regroup and then dominate the next two sets to complete a four-set victory, in two hours and seven minutes.

Murray said he was “allowed” one bad set having felt lethargic and low on energy but insisted it had nothing to do with the heat.

“The conditions in Montreal and Cincinnati (his previous two tournaments) were a lot hotter so I didn’t feel the heat was too bad,” Murray said. “I don’t think that was the problem.”

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