Oudin's U.S. Open run ends with loss to Wozniacki
Melanie Oudin's surprising run at the U.S. Open is over.
Last night she ran up against a player her equal in tenacity and range, and superior in serve and strength. There would be no sensational third-set rally, because there would be no third set.
Caroline Wozniacki, a 19-year-old Dane, was just too much Melanie for Melanie. She stayed in the long rallies and won most of them. She ran down every ball. She never once was flustered, she never lost focus. Those are the attributes that carried Oudin to the quarterfinal match at Arthur Ashe Stadium, but now they carry Wozniacki into the semifinals against unlikely opponent Yanina Wickmayer.
"I'm sorry to have won against Melanie," the ninth-seeded Wozniacki told the crowd after her 6-2, 6-2 victory. "Hopefully I won many of you guys hearts."
She did.
The 17-year-old Oudin had become the Open's darling with a run through four straight Russian players, including No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva and 2006 champion Maria Sharapova. She had lost the first set in the last three of those matches, then rallied to win. But it never looked as if she would do it against Wozniacki, who is having a breakout season with three tournament wins, including New Haven the week before the Open.
Wozniacki ran off to a 3-0 lead in the first set after breaking Oudin in the second game. She broke her again in the sixth game, then Oudin gave the crowd some hope with a break of Wozniacki in the seventh. It didn't last. Oudin was broken again for the set in the excruciating eighth game that went to three deuces with Wozniacki applying all the pressure.
But losing the first set had been commonplace for Oudin. Getting her opponents into long rallies and wearing them down with slice backhands had been her modus operandi, but Wozniacki never wilted. It was Wozniacki's modus operandi as well, and she was better at it.
"Today I was a little fragile, but Caroline made me like that," Oudin said.
Oudin's family and friends decked themselves out in black and yellow shirts with BELIEVE in big letters, mimicking the word on the heels of Oudin's pink and yellow tennis shoes. The New York crowd wanted to believe, and got behind her at several points when she was down. But their urgings didn't quite have the passion you might expect of an Ashe night gathering. They enjoyed Oudin's quarterfinal run, but sounded as if they needed more convincing.
The key to Oudin's downfall was the fifth game of the second set. It was at this point in previous matches that Oudin had started to undercut her opponents, pulling them on a string from side to side and eventually earning points through errors or her own winners. Wozniacki would have none of that.
With Wozniacki serving in the fifth, Oudin forced two break points but couldn't convert them. The game went to a fifth deuce before Wozniacki won it with two deep, forcing forehands. She broke Oudin in the next game and held for 5-2.
Then a chill wind blew, a sign bad weather could be on the way - and an omen that Oudin did not have another miracle in her. Wozniacki broke her again for the match, stealing her magic and carrying it with her into the Open semifinals, the first Danish woman to ever get this far.
There were a few tears for Oudin afterward, but also a lot of pride.
"My coach said you've had an incredible two weeks," Oudin said. "You shouldn't be too disappointed in yourself. And I really have had an incredible two weeks."
