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Underdogs Oudin, Isner steal the show on Day 6

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Matt Cronin

Matt Cronin is a senior editor at Inside Tennis magazine and the co-owner of the award-winning TennisReporters.net.

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Updated Sep 6, 2009 3:16 AM ET
     
 

NEW YORK

Melanie Oudin could have lived the normal teenager's life of parties and proms, but the 17-year-old Marietta, Ga. resident instead chose to pursue her sport. Not an extremely promising junior, the University of Georgia's John Isner chose the college route, became an all American, graduated and needed a good two years to work out the kinks in his awkward game.

Oudin's memorable run

Melanie Oudin Photos: Check out the best shots of Melanie Oudin's memorable three-match run at the U.S. Open.
On Saturday in perhaps the biggest day for Georgia in tennis history, Oudin stunned 2006 U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 and Isner shocked 2003 winner and Andy Roddick 7-6 (3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (5). It was a totally unexpected Dawg Day afternoon in metropolitan New York. "The hair was kind of standing up on the back of my neck at some points in the match," Isner said. "When (Melanie) beat Dementieva, I told her that was a great job. She's so gutsy. She plays with her heart out there. We kind of have the same attributes. We fight really well. ... I guess we're making the state of Georgia proud." It was a topsy turvey day at the U.S. Open, with play ending at nearly 1 a.m. on Sunday morning. Not only did Sharapova and Roddick exit, but Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic fought off three match points and stunned No. 1 Dinara Safina in a third set tiebreaker and Spain's Tommy Robredo took down American James Blake. Another American hopeful, Sam Querrey, was shown the door by French Open finalist Robin Soderling. Unlike Isner, who didn't even have pro aspirations coming out of high school, Oudin had pro dreams before she even went to high school. She decided to home school, rather than continuing hanging out with her twin sister Katherine and her friends in the student quad. "She said this is what I want to do and she was willing to step out of the box to do it," her mother Leslie said. "Katherine doesn't enjoy pressure and Melanie thrives on it." Sharapova does too, but with her new abbreviated service motion causing her havoc mentally, she tearfully exited New York in total disappointment as she was unable to display the high level she showed in the weeks leading up to the tournament. She set what is believed to be a dubious record in a U.S. Open women's match — 21 double faults. "Just couldn't decelerate today," said Sharapova, whose surgically repaired shoulder was treated in the third set. "I was hitting second serves no less than 95 miles per hour. I even tried to hit it less and I just couldn't. It's frustrating because you work so hard to get to a certain point. You always want to get better." The 22-year-old Sharapova had a decent shot at the semifinals, but now it's clear that she needs to hunker down again and work out her serving woes, which is infecting the rest of her game. She'll only play two more tournaments the rest of the year, Tokyo and Beijing, and then go back to the drawing board, trying to reconstruct a motion that she was comfortable and lethal with for her first five years on tour. She won't call her summer, where she reached one semifinal and one final, a true success. "It's a success in the sense that I'm back out playing tennis and hitting a tennis ball for a living," Sharapova said. "Not many people get to do that. I'm lucky enough that I work that hard to get back to being on the court and I have to work, if not just as hard but harder, to get back to the top." Oudin has been working diligently since the summer days when her grandmother, who helped teach her play, told her that the only way she would work with her is if she showed up on court at 7:30 a.m. before it got too hot. She showed up early. She was driven to dominate the yellow ball and was utterly single-minded. She was just as focused against Sharapova, playing relaxed and with no doubts at the end of the match, which she won with a hard serve and beautiful forehand cross-court winner. "She said this morning she could do it, and that's what it takes," Leslie Oudin said. "A lot of people can hit the ball, but it's so mental."
Oudin will face No. 13 seed Nadia Petrova in the next round, whom she has never faced before. But after out-hitting Dementieva and wearing Sharapova down, there's no reason why she can't take down the veteran, nor can she be counted out of a potential contest against Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals. Roddick wasn't terribly upset after the loss, but maybe he will be next week, given that he's gone through another season (six and counting) without a Slam title. He fought off a match point in the fourth set with a booming ace and looked fresher than Isner did entering the fifth. Isner played high-risk tennis all the way, booming huge serves, taking big cracks with his forehand when he was given the opportunity and rushing the net. The elder American thought that he had Isner exactly where he wanted him in the fifth set, but Roddick couldn't get a break and Isner managed to bring the match into the final shootout in the tiebreaker. The 6-foot-9 inch Isner felt much more comfortable there, and erased a key mini-break with a dipping backhand cross-court pass at 4-2 and then held strong. A heady serve-and-volley point got him to 5-3, a low backhand volley brought him to 6-3. Roddick faced down two match points with two aces, but then Isner charged again, hitting a deep enough volley that Roddick netted with a forehand. "I've never come to a tournament with as much confidence, into a Slam, as I did with this tournament,," Roddick said. "The times I've lost early, it's been a little dicey coming in. It's just the way tennis is. The fact that I was able to make a quarterfinal last year and I was playing just terrible, didn't make it past the third round this year. That's just the way it is sometimes." Isner ended the match with 90 winners to 52 from Roddick, 38 of which were aces. He'll face Spaniard and Australian Open semifinalist Fernando Verdasco, who took out Tommy Haas in five sets, in the next round. He knows the reason for his success — far better conditioning, more experience and a willingness to compete. At least this week, he's got more than a little Dawg in him. "It's obviously, hands down, the biggest win of my career," Isner said. "I'm back in tip top shape. I feel strong. I wouldn't have believed this three months ago. Now that it's here, I think I can keep it going."

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