World No.41 Melanie Oudin of the United States has signed a four-year sponsorship deal with cellular phone service provider Virgin Mobile.

The surprising 2009 US Open quarterfinalist could earn as much as $2 million from the deal, depending on her tennis results, but is guaranteed approximately $500,000 from the company.

If the 18-year-old Oudin wins this year’s US Open (which is how likely to happen?), Virgin Mobile will donate $1 million to homeless-youth organizations as part of The RE*Generation program. The goal is to raise awareness about the homeless youth in the United States.

Oudin already has deals with BackOffice Associates and AirTran, that both came after her run at the 2009 US Open. (source: Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal, photo: Women Who Serve)

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Top seed Maria Sharapova advanced to the semifinals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & the Cellular South Cup, while home favorite and second seed Melanie Oudin got eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Sharapova beat eighth seed Elena Baltacha 6-2 7-5 and will next have No.5 seed Petra Kvitova for opponent. Kvitova defeated third seed Kaia Kanepi 1-6 6-3 7-6(0) after a tough match.

Unseeded 2006 Memphis champion Sofia Arvidsson was the one who upset American Oudin, with the final score 6-1 6-3. Arvidson's opponent in the final four will be Anne Keothavong, the Briton who reached her second straight semifinal in Memphis but is now playing her first WTA main draw event, having been sidelined by knee injury for more than six months. (photo: harjanto sumali)

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Our dear reader Teerin is contributing to Women's Tennis Blog once again, this time by creating a countdown of the best moments in the 2009 tennis season.

Teerin would like to have been able to include more memorable situations, but YouTube videos can't be more than 10 minutes long. Which WTA moments would you add to Teerin's Top 10? I would include the emotional retirement of Ai Sugiyama and also, I would put Kim Clijsters' US Open win on top of the list.

Teerin, thank you so much for your continuous and active support of Women's Tennis Blog.

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Surprise US Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin made an appearance on the Ellen Degeneres Show to talk about her spectacular experience at the Grand Slam.

Among other things, Melanie was of course asked to give her opinion about the Serena Williams incident.

Interesting detail: The 17-year-old Melanie has a boyfriend and he’s 15. Hihi.

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While the rain is messing up the US Open schedule for the second day in a row, let’s once again talk about the star of the tournament – 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin.

The $175,000 that Oudin earned by reaching the quarterfinals weren’t the only financial benefit the sensation of the US Open took home. The success brought Oudin the biggest endorsement of her career, a multi-year contract with data mining firm BackOffice Associates, believed to be for a six-figure sum guaranteed annually, plus performance bonuses.

Oudin signed the contract just 20 minutes prior to her quarterfinal encounter with Caroline Wozniacki. (sources: On the Baseline, Sports Business Daily)

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