Dent beats Ferrero to win Thailand Open

American Taylor Dent thwarted top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero’s attempts to claim his first indoor title by defeating the Spaniard 6-3 7-6...

American Taylor Dent thwarted top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero’s attempts to claim his first indoor title by defeating the Spaniard 6-3 7-6 in the final of the Thailand Open on Sunday. It was Taylor’s second title of the year following his victory in Memphis in February.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Dent. “It’s a first for me to win two titles in a season and hopefully before the year’s out there’ll be another one. I went out there expecting a tough match and it was a lot closer than two sets. Just grinding it out and keeping a strong head won me the match.”

Dent quickly got into his stride as he kept Ferrero pegged back at the baseline and snatched a 4-2 lead after putting away an overhead. Although Ferrero had two break points when the eighth-seeded Dent was serving for the set, the Spaniard failed to convert either. The American hit an ace on the first and Ferrero smacked a return wide on the second before smashing his racket to the ground in frustration. Visibly annoyed at his inability to penetrate the Dent serve, the French Open champion also received a warning from the umpire after he sent a lob long and was broken for 1-0 in the second. (Reuters)