Associated Press
NEW YORK ó When Melanie Oudin wakes up each morning these days, sharing a king-sized hotel bed with her mother, she’s basically your average teen visiting the big city.
Then the 17-year-old from Marietta, Ga., gets out on court at the U.S. Open in those pink-and-yellow sneakers with the word “BELIEVE” stamped near the heel, and there is nothing ordinary at all about her.
Five points from a straight-set loss, Oudin kept plugging away for a 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 win over 13th-seeded Nadia Petrova to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
“It’s kind of hard to explain how I’ve done it,” Oudin said. “It’s, like, now I know that I do belong here. This is what I want to do, and I can compete with these girls, no matter who I’m playing. I have a chance against anyone.”
The upset of Petrova follows comebacks from a set down against Maria Sharapova in the third round and No. 4 Elena Dementieva in the second.
Oudin, 17-4 this season in three-setters, has become the youngest American to move into the quarterfinals at America’s Grand Slam since Serena Williams in 1999.
The situation seemed bleak when Petrova, already up a set, was serving at 4-3, 40-15 in the second. One more point and Petrova would be a game from the win. Oudin blocked back a 112 mph serve at 40-30, then ended an 10-stroke exchange by smacking a forehand down the line. During one key stretch early in the third set, Oudin won 11 of 13 points ó and 10 were thanks to miscues by Petrova.
* On the men’s side, Greensboro native John Isner lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to No. 10 Fernando Verdasco. It’s the first time in the history of an event that began in 1881 that there will be no American men in the quarterfinals.
Roger Federer extended his pursuit of a sixth consecutive U.S. Open title by beating Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Up next is a familiar foe: Robin Soderling, who is 0-11 against Federer.
GOLF
NORTON, Mass. ó Steve Stricker delivered back-to-back birdies to cap a wild Labor Day finish and win the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday, moving past Tiger Woods to the top of the FedEx Cup standings.
Stricker rolled in a 15-foot birdie on the 17th hole, then hit a delicate chip to tap-in range on the par-5 18th for a 4-under 67 and a one-shot victory over Jason Dufner and Scott Verplank.
The victory was his third of the year and moved Stricker to a career-high No. 2 in the world ranking. He has a 909-point lead over Woods in the FedEx Cup with two tournaments remaining.
NBA
MEMPHIS, Tenn. ó The owner of the Memphis Grizzlies and the team’s staff met with Allen Iverson.
“I want to help them develop a winner,” he said on Twitter.
NASCAR
CHARLOTTE ó It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Danica Patrick plans to give NASCAR a try.
She used her summer vacation to tour North Carolina race shops. She’s twice been to Tony Stewart’s place and visited shops owned by Joe Gibbs, Richard Childress, Jack Roush and Michael Waltrip. She’s sought advice from Chip Ganassi and last week spent time with Stewart.
“I can pretty much guarantee at some point she’s going to be over here,” Stewart said last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “She’s looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘Hey, this is what I want to do. It looks like fun. It looks like a lot of work, but it looks like fun.’ She doesn’t have some misguided idea that it’s going to be easy doing it. She wants to do it the right way. She has the intention of doing everything right.”