Analysis for Dent-Zverev (ATP Delray Beach)

Head-to-head record 0:0

Home qualifier Taylor Dent will face Misha Zverev of Germany in the first round at Delray Beach. Dent was a successful player who has won 4 ATP singles titles during his career and reached the finals of three other events on tour. Dent's most memorable performance of his career so far came at the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he made a push all the way to the semifinals, where he was defeated by eventual gold medalist Nicolas Massu of Chile. In the 2006 and 2007 seasons, Dent did not play very many competitive matches, due to the recurring back and groin problem. Dent had back surgery on March, 2007. Last year, he returned from injury receiving a wild card and played at the Carson challenger in USA. It was his first match since Feb. 2006. He lost his first round match to Cecil Mamiit. In July 2008 Dent took a wild card into his first ATP tour event for two seasons at the Hall of Fame tennis tournament in Newport, Rhode Island. He lost in three sets to Canada's Frank Dancevic. In November 2008 Dent won his first comeback match at the Champaign challenger against Frederic Niemeyer. He followed this win up by defeating number 2 seed and fellow American Robert Kendrick. In the third round Dent had to withdraw against Sam Warburg. Using his protected ranking of 56, Dent played the 2009 Australian Open, where he was eliminated in the first round by Amer Delic. He showed some other solid performances this year and it seems he is finally back on the scene. He was impressive in qualifier here beating Greul, Malisse and G.Lapentti all in straight sets. He enjoys the conditions in Florida and we think he is the favourite against inexpressive Zverev. Unusual for a contemporary tennis player, Dent favors a pure serve-and-volley style of play. His career-high rank is 21 and we believe he is capable of reaching at least top 50 again. His opponent is just a mediocre player with solid serve but we don’t think he has anything to bother Dent. Odds around 1.8 are good enough for us.