[Online exclusive] Mercedes-Benz Cup: Former Bruin triumphs during first round of Mercedes-Benz Cup

Former Bruin Eric Taino went into his first-round match of the
Mercedes-Benz Cup at UCLA as a huge underdog.

He had been trying just to stay on the pro tour in singles,
playing in only 16 tournaments this year, most of them lesser-known
tournaments on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour.

But even though he was matched up against the much more
experienced Hyung-Taik Lee, Taino showed no signs of inexperience
by the end of the match, beating Lee on Monday, 3-6, 7-6(5),
6-2.

“I feel pretty comfortable physically playing with these
guys,” Taino said. “I just need the
experience.”

Lee had played 30 matches in ATP Champions tournaments while
Taino had played only four; Taino went into the Mercedes-Benz Cup
ranked No. 166 in the world (Lee was No. 53).

At the start, Taino’s inexperience showed. His serve was
broken easily in the first two games that he served.

“I was just nervous at the beginning,” Taino said.
“I was unsure of myself.”

But he regained form and started playing at the top of his game.
Unfortunately for him, so was Lee.

Neither competitor broke serve in the second set, and Taino won
the tiebreaker on Lee’s serve with only two points.

Taino quickly broke Lee’s serve twice at the beginning of
the third set, leading 3-0 and making the match seemingly over.

Then, Lee went ahead 40-love on Taino’s serve, putting him
back in the match.

“That wasn’t the way I wanted to start the next
service game,” Taino said. “I just didn’t want to
give him an easy game.”

He didn’t.

Taino scored three straight points to get back to deuce, while
Lee nearly threw his racquet in disgust. Taino eventually took the
game, the set and the match.

Taino moves on to play the winner of Frederic Niemeyer and No. 4
seed Gustavo Kuerten.

Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;

Not very many big names were in action Monday, the first day of
the week-long tournament.

Because of a charity event Monday night, only five of the 16
first-round singles matches were played, as were only two of the
eight first-round doubles matches.

The remaining 11 singles matches will be played Tuesday,
featuring all eight seeded players.

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One match with familiar names was played Monday, but it was a
doubles match.

Last year’s No. 1 player in the world, Lleyton Hewitt,
teamed up with Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis to beat Wayne
Ferreira and UCLA alumnus Justin Gimelstob 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

The third set was close and intense throughout; neither team
could break a serve until the end of the set despite many chances
to do so.

With the set tied at 5-5 and Philippoussis serving, Ferreira and
Gimelstob scored the first three points, giving them three break
point opportunities.

Two aces by “Scud,” as Philippoussis is nicknamed,
and another one that was barely returned put the game back at
deuce. After a double fault, Ferreira and Gimelstob had yet another
break point possibility.

But another barely returned serve put the game back to deuce.
Hewitt and Philippoussis would eventually win the game, making it
6-5.

It appeared that the third set would go into a tiebreaker, as
Ferreira and Gimelstob took a 40-30 lead with Ferreira serving.

Ferreira hit a return into the net, and then Hewitt hit two
cross-court winners to give suddenly Hewitt and Philippoussis the
match.

Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;

One other former Bruin was in action Monday.

In the first match of the Mercedes-Benz Cup, an 11 a.m. start,
UCLA alumnus Kevin Kim lost to Jan Vacek 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Kim easily won the first set and was playing effectively on both
his serve and Vacek’s.

In the second set, the opposite happened.

Both players played well in the third, with neither breaking the
other’s serve.

Vacek finally broke Kim, making the score 5-4 and did not allow
Kin a break point opportunity to ice the set and the match.

Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;

Robert Yim, who will join the UCLA men’s tennis team as an
incoming freshman in the fall, qualified for the Mercedes-Benz Cup
and will play tomorrow against Ferreira, the No. 7 seed at the
tournament.

The match will take place at the Grandstand court after the
completion of the Nicolas Kiefer and Nicolas Thomann match, an 11
a.m. start.

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