US Open third round: Melanie Oudin ousts Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina sent crashing

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America’s third-highest ranked WTA player Melanie Oudin reached the fourth round of a second straight Grand Slam, pulling off a comeback victory over Maria Sharapova, while world No.1 Dinara Safina finally crashed out of the US Open, having survived two close encounters in the first two rounds.

The 17-year-old Oudin, ranked 70th in the world, beat No.29 seed Maria Sharapova 3-6 6-4 7-5. The Russian hit 63 errors, and less than half as much winners, 30.

Let me remind you that in the previous round Oudin ousted fourth seed Elena Dementieva.

In the first round against world No.167 Olivia Rogowska, the top-seeded Safina lost the first-set tiebreak and rallied from a 3-0 down in the deciding set to advance. Against world No.67 Kristina Barrois in the second round Safina also lost the first set tiebreak and was trailing 2-0 in the third set. Finally, Petra Kvitova, ranked No.72, conquered the shaky world No.1 in another nail-biter, even though Safina had held three match points. Final score: 6-4 2-6 7-6(5).

As everyone knows, Safina is yet to win a Grand Slam title, but will remain on top of the rankings regardless of who wins the US Open title.

6 COMMENTS

  1. With her infectious personality and heart it’s impossible to not root for Melanie. She’s like a Henin on the court without the bitchiness.

  2. More Russians are headed in M. Oudin’s way Petrova is next and possibly Kutnetsova in the quarters. If she reaches the semifinals by defeating all of the Russians that are on her way, she would have earned the nickname “The Russian Killer”.

    I didn’t see the match but I read that Divapova had 63 unforced errors in the match, including 21 double faults setting a US Open record *Yikes*
    I wonder how is her shoulder holding up?

    I also read that M. Oudin had more unforced errors than winners. Lets hope youngster plays sharper in the next round. This was a NICE WIN.

  3. I honestly don’t think it was an upset with Shriekapova; people for some reason expect too much from her. Effects of the shoulder is still clear and she’s surpassed my expectations thus far. I’m hopeful with the temporary revival of Women’s tennis with upcoming teens and equally sympathetic for a Dina who will be absolutely battered by the press and global tennis community when they discover the fact that she will remain on top, as Marija helpfully indicated. |:{

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