17 Year Old Advances to Main Draw

Taylor Dent, 17, of Newport Beach got through three qualifying matches to advance to the main draw of the Mercedes-Benz Cup.

The event--featuring U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter of Australia, Wimbledon semifinalist Tim Henman of England, three-time Wimbledon finalist Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia and Andre Agassi--starts today at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA.

Dent will play fourth-seeded Thomas Enqvist of Sweden at 9:15 tonight in the first round.

Taylor Dent’s father is Phil Dent, a finalist at the 1974 Australian Open. Phil Dent won the doubles event at L.A. in 1971 and ’78.

Among the featured matches in the day session are seventh-seeded Byron Black of Zimbabwe vs. Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands; Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic vs. Justin Gimelstob; and Andrew Ilie of Australia vs. Mal Washington.