World No.70 Melanie Oudin can now be called the slayer of the Russians, as the 17-year-old American hope defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round, fourth seed Elena Dementieva in the second, seed No.29 Maria Sharapova in the third, and now Nadia Petrova in the fourth.
Oudin won just one game in the opening set, but the second was quite a different story. When the 13th-seeded Petrova was serving for a 5-3 lead, Oudin broke back to level at 4-4, and step by step forced a tiebreak which she decisively won 7-2. Oudin then rolled through the deciding set, taking advantage of Petrova’s 22 unforced errors. Final score: 1-6 7-6(2) 6-3.
As the excitement of the past week didn’t catch up with determined Oudin, she’ll be playing her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Oudin’s opponent in the final eight will be either yet another Russian, sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, or ninth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.
In addition, Oudin’s ranking will rise to at least No.45 when the US Open is over.
Melanie is 17! Not 19.
Elizabeth, thank you for correcting me. In all my last posts I wrote her age well, don’t know why I messed up this time. 😛
The “Little tiger with big paws” did it again. It helped that Petrova made 23 unforced errors.
Wozniacki defeated Kuznetsova, it was more like Kuzzie giving the match to Caroline. She made 63 unforced errors, like Divapova. I predict The Stella McCurse will make its presence in the next round, BTW the color of that dress is still unpleasant digestive gas ugly. 😛
Here is a multiple choice question: Why were the Russians making so many unforced errors in this slam? A)Pressure B)Nerves C)Choke D)All of the above.
Wozzy vs Oudin I’ll take Oudin, and she has a shot to reach the finals.
No Russians left in the US Open 09.
2 Americans and 2 Belgians still remain it is like nothing has changed. 😛
I love the shoes and her tennis games as well
Carlos, answer to your question: D.
It’s interesting that we have 2 Belgians and 2 Americans in the quarters and there are no Russians. And it’s interesting that those two American’s are not both Venus and Serena, and that those to Belgians are not both Henin and Clijsters.
Congratulations to Melanie, she is doing great!