Dent upsets Coria at Key Biscayne

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — For Taylor Dent, speed always meant a 140-mph ace. So when he sprinted across the court to outscramble Guillermo Coria, the surprised stadium crowd roared.

Dent beat a top-10 player for the fourth time this year Monday, eliminating Coria 6-3, 6-4 in the third round at the Nasdaq-100 Open. Dent dominated with his big serve, but he also chased down a drop shot by the crafty Coria and angled his reply crosscourt for a winner.

"It's always nice to beat the South Americans and Spaniards at their own little game," Dent said with a smile.

The elimination of Coria, the runner-up last year, left just one of the six highest-ranked players — No. 1 Roger Federer — in contention with four rounds still to go. The highest-seeded man left in one half of the draw is No. 13 Ivan Ljubicic.

Dent, seeded 31st, used his serve-and-volley game to keep Coria on the defensive. Dent lost only four points on his first serve, never faced a break point and won 37 points at the net.

He used his wheels too. Pudgy and injury-prone in the past, Dent said sprint work has reduced his weight at least 15 pounds from a high of 215.

"He certainly has a game that should cause problems for a lot of people," said Andre Agassi, who also won and might face Dent in the quarterfinals. "I would expect him to have these wins a lot more often."

Six-time champion Agassi hit 12 aces and took barely an hour to beat Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-4.

On the women's side, Belgians Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters continued their comebacks from injury.

Henin-Hardenne, seeded 19th and playing in her first tournament since the U.S. Open, reached the quarterfinals by beating No. 7 Alicia Molik 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. The three-time Grand Slam champion had been sidelined by a virus and knee injury.

Clijsters, unseeded and coming back from wrist surgery, beat No. 5 Anastasia Myskina 6-3, 6-4. Clijsters has won 11 consecutive matches, including her first tournament title in 13 months earlier this month at Indian Wells.

"I definitely didn't expect to be playing so many matches on this trip" to the United States, Clijsters said. "So everything is a bonus."

Joining French Open champion Myskina on the sideline was fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, the U.S. Open champion. She lost to 17-year-old Ana Ivanovic of Serbia-Montenegro, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.