A Matchup Worth Shouting About

Considering the reputation of his next opponent, it wasn’t surprising that Taylor Dent talked about on-court antics and the wisdom of avoiding spats with opponents from a certain continent.

So, can you guess he will be playing Lleyton Hewitt?

The third-seeded Hewitt, a former U.S. Open champion from Australia, and Dent, of Newport Beach, survived hard-fought second-round matches Friday. Hewitt defeated Jose Acasuso of Argentina, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3), 6-2, and Dent beat Nicolas Almagro of Spain, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, in 2 hours 35 minutes.

Dent and Hewitt have played each other five times, twice this year. Hewitt won at Wimbledon in four sets and Dent beat him for the only time in Adelaide in January. If anything, Dent has gotten used to Hewitt’s act, which includes ear-splitting shouts of “Come on!”

“You’ve just got to look the other way,” Dent said. . “As soon as you try to start controlling what the other players are doing, you’re going to find yourself pretty frustrated.”

He’s not so Zen-like about others on the tour. He told an amusing story about getting heckled by Dick Norman’s entourage this year during their first-round match at Wimbledon. Dent had words with Norman during changeovers and expected the worst when they shook hands at the net.

“I’m up there [thinking], ‘What’s he going to do? He’s a big guy, I don’t know what to do,’ ” Dent said. “He said, ‘Great fight.’ I was taken aback.”

Dent said he had waited in the locker room a few times, “anxious to have words” with certain opponents. But it has never turned into Fight Club.

Unlike Hewitt, who seems to be feuding with all members of Team Argentina, Dent knows who to avoid, cheerfully listing the reasons.

“See, my impression of South Americans is if you fight one, you’re fighting the whole clan,” Dent said. “So South Americans are kind of off limits, I think.

“You just let those guys be. You’re friends with those guys, ‘Right on. Vamos. Let’s go.’ ”

Dent, who has faced his share of criticism about his fitness level, was asked after his news conference about 18-year-old qualifier Andy Murray of Scotland.

Murray, who lost in five sets to French qualifier Arnaud Clement in the second round, has been making a habit of putting his finger to his lips after victories. The move is meant to be a shot at veteran coaches who said he lacked fitness.

“I didn’t know he was old enough to have any critics,” Dent said.

By and large, it was a day designed for the U.S. Open favorites, setting the stage for more interesting matchups. Sisters Venus and Serena Williams, who once made a habit of playing in Grand Slam finals, will play each other in the fourth round, their earliest meeting at a major since the second round of the 1998 Australian Open.

Eighth-seeded Serena reached the fourth round in the afternoon, defeating Francesca Schiavone of Italy, 6-3, 6-4, and a few hours later, No. 10 Venus advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

The sisters have played each other once this year, with Venus winning in straight sets in Miami. Serena joked that she might have to use a different strategy against her older sister.

“When I was winning all the Grand Slams, I poisoned her food,” said Serena, smiling. “I may have to go back and do that again. I put this little special thing in there to make her not move her feet, not run to the ball.”

The other women’s fourth-round match with interesting potential is between two 18-year-olds: No. 1 Maria Sharapova of Russia and Sania Mirza of India.

Mirza became the first woman from India to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam, defeating Marion Bartoli of France, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Sharapova beat Julia Schruff of Germany, 6-2, 6-4.

Mirza said she was not thinking of her historic accomplishment.

“That’s not what I think every time I step on the court, that an Indian never did this, an Indian never did that,” she said.

As for Sharapova, this is the first time she has reached the final 16 in New York. And she arrived here with less-than-optimal preparation, having been out since Aug. 12, when she withdrew from the tournament in Carson because of a strained pectoral muscle.

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After taking a series of public relations hits, there seems to have been some backpedaling in the ATP’s plans for doubles experimentation this fall. On its website, it quietly put out a revision, saying sets would remain at six games with a tiebreaker at 5-5. In June, the ATP had announced doubles would feature no-ad games and sets played to five games, with a tiebreaker at 4-4.

Doubles players filed an antitrust lawsuit against the ATP in federal court Thursday, seeking an injunction to block the proposed changes, and scheduled a news conference at the Open on Friday.

“Anybody can file a lawsuit,” ATP spokesman David Higdon said. “The changes are experimental. Nothing is cast in stone, and we’ve always been very flexible.”