NEW YORK — Melanie Oudin’s face was flushed from a mix of exertion and excitement and maybe even a bit of bewilderment — “Yes, I DID beat Maria Sharapova!” running through her mind — when she stepped out of the U.S. Open locker room and saw her mother.
The pair embraced, kissed each other on the cheek, and Leslie Oudin told her 17-year-old daughter: “I’m very proud of you.”
Then they hugged some more, holding tight.
Melanie Oudin is still very much a kid from Marietta, Ga., enjoying the trip of her life in the Big Apple, playing foosball in the players’ lounge and using words like “amazing” and “cool” as she works her dizzying way through the draw at Flushing Meadows.
Oudin’s latest win was the biggest so far: She knocked off three-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday to reach the U.S. Open’s fourth round.
In the late-night match, top-ranked Dinara Safina lost 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5) to 72nd-ranked Petra Kvitova.
Safina will keep the No. 1 ranking despite the loss, but will also remain without a major title. She struggled mightily two three-set victories to start the tournament, averaging 43 unforced errors and 13 double faults in the first two rounds.
Several hours after Oudin’s win, another unheralded American pulled off another upset of a past U.S. Open champion: 55th-ranked John Isner pounded 38 aces and eliminated No. 5 Andy Roddick 7-6 (3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (5) to reach the fourth round at a major tournament for the first time.
“It’s obviously, hands down, the biggest win of my career. Nothing even compares. To do it at the stage I did it on is pretty spectacular,” said Isner, who led Georgia to the 2007 NCAA team championship. “But I know I can really do some damage here. So I’m not satisfied.”
Roddick is the first of the top 16 men to lose this week. He won the 2003 Open and came oh-so-close to winning Wimbledon in July, but he now must resume his pursuit of a second career major title next year.
Sharapova, it bears noting, double-faulted 21 times, the most by a woman in any 2009 tour match. But the 5-foot-6 Oudin’s solid groundstrokes and tremendous court coverage — all those small, squeaky steps — and veteran-like presence played significant roles too.
So, perhaps, did the partisan fans, who began hootin’ and hollerin’ to celebrate their girl’s victory right as her racket met the ball on the clinching forehand winner.
“I try to pretend that it’s not, like, Arthur Ashe Stadium, playing Maria Sharapova. I try to just pretend it’s any other match — even just practicing. Sometimes I tell myself I’m just practicing at my academy at home, and I’m just playing one of my friends,” Oudin said. “So it’s not a big deal.”
Oh, it most certainly is a big deal. A year ago, Oudin was ranked 221st and lost in the first round in New York. Now she is 70th — steadily moving up — and the youngest American woman in the U.S. Open’s final 16 since Serena Williams a decade ago.
“Her first goal was to get into the tournament,” Oudin’s coach, Brian de Villiers, said, “and the second one was to win a round here.”
Before Isner ousted Roddick, the top 16 men in the tournament were a combined 38-0. Leading the way was No. 1 Roger Federer, who overcame a sloppy first set and tumble to the court to beat two-time major champion Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
Also advancing into the fourth round were No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 10 Fernando Verdasco and French Open runner-up Robin Soderling, who beat No. 22 Sam Querrey of the U.S. 6-2, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-1.
At a glance
Weather: Mostly sunny and warm. High of 83.
Attendance: Day: 37,388
Men’s seeded winners: Third round: No. 1 Roger Federer, No. 4 Novak Djokovic, No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 10 Fernando Verdasco, No. 12 Robin Soderling and No. 15 Radek Stepanek
Men’s seeded losers: No. 20 Tommy Haas, No. 22 Sam Querrey, No. 23 Philipp Kohlschreiber and No. 31 Lleyton Hewitt.
Women’s seeded winners: Third round: No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 13 Nadia Petrova
Women’s seeded losers: No. 21 Zheng Jie and No. 29 Maria Sharapova
Quote of the day: “I learned, once again, proved to myself that I can compete with these top girls. And if I believe in myself and my game, then I can beat them.” — Melanie Oudin, who beat Sharapova to advance to the fourth round
TV: CBS, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Tennis Channel, 5-9 p.m.
ON THIS DATE: On Sept. 6, 1920, Bill Tilden beats Bill Johnston 6-1, 1-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 to win the first of his seven men’s singles titles.
