US Open gallery: women's draw, day 8
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Melanie Oudin continued her Cinderella run at the US Open with another comeback victory against No.13 seed Nadia Petrova in the fourth round.
The 17-year-old American, who stunned Maria Sharapova in the last round and Elena Dementieva before that, prevailed 1-6 7-6(2) 6-3 to set up a quarter-final showdown with Caroline Wozniacki.
Petrova got off to a flier in the opening set, silencing the raucous New York crowd with a 6-1 opening set.
But for the third round in succession, back came Oudin. After riding her luck in the second set the new American darling took a 5-0 lead in the tie-break before clinching the set when Petrova sent a forehand wide.
Oudin grabbed a double break in the decider to go 5-2 up, but was broken when serving for the match. The world No.70 held her nerve in impressive fashion, nailing a forehand winner in the next game to breaks straight back and seal another famous victory.
“I didn’t think I started off too well and Nadia served unbelievable,” Oudin admitted afterwards. “But I stayed in there with her in the second set and she gave me a few free points and I got my confidence and I believed I could do it and I did it.”
Caroline Wozniacki now faces the task of taking on both Oudin and a fervent partizan crowd in the quarter-finals – as if having to beat former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round wasn’t enough.
“Hopefully someone from the crowd will cheer for me,” said the Danish teenager – the youngest player in the top 20 – before adding her own praise for the American. “She’s had an amazing run.”
The No.9 seed recovered against the French Open champion to win 2-6 7-6(5) 7-6(3) and now finds herself as the only seeded player left in the top half of the draw.
Kuznetsova played an all-out offensive match, hitting 59 winners, but 63 unforced errors – 38 more than Wozniacki, who in contrast only hit 16 winners.
“I just hit too many unforced errors, and I could not control my emotions,” Kuznetsova said. “And I wanted it so much.”
Like her opponents, Wozniacki is through to her first grand slam quarter-final. World No.50 Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium and No.52 Kateryna Bondarenko will play off for the other semi-final spot.
Kateryna Bondarenko exacted sisterly revenge against Gisela Dulko in some style as she posted a sublime 6-0 6-0 victory to reach the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows.
Bondarenko, whose sister Alona lost to the Argentine earlier in the tournament, needed just 47 minutes to see off a hapless Dulko.
“I just got some messages to do the revenge for my sister, so I start to think about it when I read the messages,” Bondarenko said afterwards. “I’m surprised that it’s 6-0 6-0, and I’m really happy that it went that way.”
Yanina Wickmayer came back from a set down to beat Petra Kvitova 4-6 6-4 7-5 and reach the last eight at Flushing Meadows, a possibility she had dared not even dream about before the tournament began.
“I think if you’ve never played a quarter-final, if your furthest in a grand slam is second round, I don’t think you can expect anything,” she said. “I was feeling well the last few weeks. I was playing well. I was winning a lot of matches, playing good matches against the top players, so I was feeling pretty confident.
“But being in the quarters in a grand slam for the first time is just a special moment. It’s really unbelievable.”
