The Taylor Dent comeback tour hasn't made many stops yet.
Asked to evaluate how far he has come from two major back surgeries, Dent said, "Two out of 10."
But Dent, 29, from Bradenton, Fla., had a noteworthy development Wednesday at the Atlanta Tennis Championships. In a second-round match, Dent downed No. 4 seed and world No. 47 Horacio Zeballos 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.
It's the first time Dent has made the quarterfinal of an ATP World Tour event since October 2005. He will play the winner of Wednesday night's Robby Ginepri-Mardy Fish late match in the quarters on Friday.
"It's a big deal," Dent said of beating Zeballos. "The fact that I've strung two really good wins back to back, it's also a good thing."
Dent did not compete from February 2006 to May 2008 because of back injuries and surgeries. He was in bed 23 hours a day for nearly a year.
Coming to Atlanta ranked No. 94, Dent was 5-13 for the year. He handled James Blake in the first round Tuesday before giving Zeballos the boot.
Russell moves on
American Michael Russell advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Germany's Rainer Schuettler in three sets, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5. He'll play John Isner on Friday.
In the third set, Schuettler went up 5-4 before Russell managed to break Schuettler’s serve twice en route.
“Luckily I hit some good shots after a few errors in the beginning,” he said. “And when it got back to five-all, I was thinking of it as a new match. I’m right back in it.”
The match featured two veterans, with the 34-year-old Schuettler as the oldest player on the tour and Russell, 32, as the fourth oldest.
Thursday's slate
Fans will get their first look at world No. 9 Andy Roddick on Thursday. He'll play a second-round match at 4 p.m. against Rajeev Ram and then play a doubles match with Mardy Fish in the final match of the night on the stadium court, against Stephen Huss and Andre Sa.
Former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt will play Slovakia's Lukas Lacko on the stadium court in the third match of the day, which won't start before 6:30 p.m.
Isner will play a second-round doubles match with James Blake against Michael Kohlmann and Schuettler in the second stadium-court match.
Etc.
Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith was in the crowd cheering for Isner. Smith and Isner, a diehard Panthers fan, are good friends. … Cobb County's Melanie Oudin will sign autographs Thursday at the Adidas tent. Oudin will begin her U.S. Open Series play at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, Calif., next week. Oudin, ranked No. 42 in the world, will begin to sign at 6:15 p.m. … Attendance for Wednesday's session was 3,763. Capacity is 4,600.
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