U.S. Open 2010: Melanie Oudin ousted, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters advance to third round
America’s Melanie Oudin lost her second round match of the United States Open to Ukrainian foe Alona Bondarenko in two sets on Wednesday. The final match score was 6-2, 7-5.
The 18-year-old Oudin committed a total of 38 unforced errors during yesterday’s clash against the 29 seeded Ukrainian in New York.
“I think I am much relaxed now as there is no pressure on my shoulders any more. I can once again start my practice with a clear state of mind and free from all sorts of expectations. And now I can just go out and likely concentrate more on my game and can perform well for the rest of the season and off course I will keep on working hard,” said Oudin after the match.
While commenting on the expectations of the crowd, the American opined, “The crowd was extremely loud throughout my today’s match and I guess that is one of the reasons of my failure today as I couldn’t handle the pressure at the Flushing Meadows.”
Currently ranked number 43 in the world by WTA, Oudin didn’t surpass the second round of any major tournament this year. Apart from her quarter-final run at the U.S. Open back in 2009, the right-handed Oudin also reached the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championships.
Melanie further said that due to her age, she still has at least 10 more years of tennis and so hopefully will perform well in the next couple of years at the United States Open.
Bondarenko, who has made it to the third round in the last three Grand Slam tournaments this year, secured victory with a total of four winners while Melanie had just nine. While commenting on Oudin, she said, “I knew that if Oudin won’t be able to win in the end if she kept on committing the mistakes and that exactly happened and so I am glad that I won the match and made my way into the third round at the Flushing Meadows.”
In other action on Wednesday, fourth ranked American tennis star Venus Williams fought back to beat Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino in a two setter clash in New York. The final match score was 7-6 (3), 6-3.
The third seeded Venus trailed 3-1 in the tiebreaker. However, she responded well with a back hand winner, followed by her forehand winner to make her way into the third round of the United States Open.
Venus William captured the United States Open in 2000 as well as 2001 and has never lost a match in this tournament earlier than the round of sixteen at Flushing Meadows.
Wednesday’s clash was the American’s second one since June, when she was kicked out in the quarters at Wimbledon. Venus withdrew from a total of two hard court warm up events last month as a result of her knee injury.
Reigning U.S. Open Champion Kim Clijsters also reached the third round of the tournament with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sally Peers.
The second seeded Belgian concluded her yesterday’s second round battle in a time period of 56 minutes at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
Kim, who came out of retirement to grab the United States Open title in 2009, is attempting to register her name as the first women’s tennis player to successfully defend her crown at Flushing Meadows since Venus Williams achieved this feat in 2001.
Clijsters, as a result of this victory, will now meet 27 seeded Petra Kvitova in her next match.
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