Dent Can’t Quite Make One

The inspirational pull of the Andre Agassi-James Blake-Robby Ginepri Express at the U.S. Open didn’t have quite enough lift, or room, for a fourth passenger, Taylor Dent.

Dent was left curbside on Sunday. Or is that courtside?

It could have been his breakthrough moment, and third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia looked a bit vulnerable.

But Hewitt stayed intact as Dent’s serve failed him in the latter stages. The former U.S. Open champion defeated Dent, 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 7-5, in the third round in 3 hours 21 minutes. Dent is 0-8 at Grand Slams against players ranked in the top 10.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s actually more frustrating than anything else because I feel like I lost that match for the same reason that I’ve lost 99% of my matches over the past year and a half or so,” said Dent, who is planning to move from Newport Beach to Sarasota, Fla. “My serve just really let me down today.”

Dent without an excellent serve would be like Agassi dealing with a shaky backhand. Dent hit 19 aces but double faulted 10 times. And he punctured his momentum with a shoddy serving performance in the fourth set, recording a first-serve percentage of 39%.

Hewitt will next play No. 15 Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia. Hrbaty defeated David Ferrer of Spain, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 7-5, 7-5, in 3 hours 7 minutes. He hit 61 winners, 75 unforced errors and had 20 break points, converting seven of them.

But that wasn’t the most eye-popping thing about him. It was his curious-looking pink-and-black shirt with two holes cut out in the back. A potential crime against fashion? It caused great amusement for CBS commentators John McEnroe and Mary Carillo.

Then there was the ball boy who had to apply sun block to the two exposed areas, and Hrbaty said he heard fans laughing about it. But Hrbaty was good-natured, taking the locker room teasing and questions in stride. He even brought one shirt to show a small group of reporters.

“They are telling me ... that I should turn it around and that it’s a woman’s shirt if I turn it to the front,” he said. “Andre was saying that I should give it to the woman’s locker room, that girls should wear it so ... it’s fun.”

Still, he looked like a contortionist when he tried to put on a new one during a changeover. “Sometimes you can get confused which hole to put your head in,” he said.

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Top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland, who defeated his close friend Olivier Rochus of Belgium, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-2, has lost one set in his last 10 Grand Slam matches, and that was at Wimbledon to Nicolas Kiefer of Germany in the round of 16 this year.

Federer, who organized a successful tsunami relief effort among the players, an exhibition at Indian Wells, said he had not heard any talk of such an event here to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina.

“I’m always interested in trying to help,” he said. “It’s tough to get the players together. But we can think of something new. I’m in it, of course. Something to think about, that’s for sure, because they need help.”

Kim Clijsters of Belgium became the first player to announce a five-figure donation -- $25,000 to the Red Cross for hurricane relief efforts. “You just want to help them out,” she said. “I know I’m not the only one trying to help, and it’s not going to change the world but at least I can support some people.”