US Tennis Open Day 6 Results: Melanie Oudin Pulls off Another Upset; Roddick, Safina Bounced Out

(AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)

Melanie Oudin.... WE BELIEVE!

With the simple word "Believe" etched into the heels of her bright pink and yellow tennis shoes, Melanie Oudin has ridden a tidal wave of crowd support and self-belief into the fourth round of the US Open with a stunning upset over 2006 champion and former world #1 Maria Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

At the start of the tournament, few were familiar with the 17 year old Marietta, GA native who still helps out with the day to day maintenance at her home tennis club, yet after taking out #4 seed Elena Dementieva in the second round she announced to the world that she had officially arrived on the tennis scene as a force to be reckoned with.

Although coming into today's matchup with the formidable Sharapova as the underdog - and most certainly in part because of it, she was clearly the crowd favorite from the opening game and managed to fight her way back into the match after dropping the first set 3-6. Racing out to a 5-1 lead in the second set though, Sharapova showed her mettle in climbing back to close the gap to 5-4 before Oudin was able to serve out the set and extend the match into the third and decisive set.

In the third set, where Sharapova typically rises to the occasion, her serve deserted her. Struggling to regain her feel after undergoing shoulder surgery last year and using an abbreviated motion, Sharapova racked up a ghastly 21 double faults - yet refused to go away quietly by repeatedly breaking Oudin's serve and extending the third set to 5 games each. At 5 all, it was Oudin who elevated her game while Sharapova continued to pile up double faults and unforced errors (59 errors in total), and at 6-5 Oudin managed to serve out the match with a combination of well placed serves and powerful groundstrokes which repeatedly pushed Sharapova out of position.

Today's win undoubtedly won Oudin legions of fans, who will return on Monday to cheer her on as she attempts to pull off a hat trick of sorts by squaring off against a third consecutive seeded Russian opponent in Nadia Petrova, who quietly advanced this afternoon with a straight sets win over 21st seed Jie Zhang 6-4, 6-1.

In men's action this afternoon, Roger Federer rolled to his 37th consecutive US Open win over 2001 champion and former #1 Lleyton Hewitt in four sets, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Novak Djokovic, seeded 4th, also advanced in four sets while ending the dream run for American qualifier Jesse Witten, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-4. #8 seed Nikolay Davydenko also advanced with a 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 win over unseeded Marco Chiudinelli, #10 seed Fernando Verdasco pulled out a gutsy five set win over #20th seeded Tommy Haas, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(8), 1-6, 6-4, and French Open finalist Robin Soderling ended Sam Querrrey's run with a four set victory 6-2, 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-1.

The upset train rolled along uninterrupted during the night session as both Andy Roddick and Dinara Safina were shown to the exits much earlier than expected. Roddick came in to this year's open looking to make a deep run after shedding 15lbs. earlier this year and reaching the Wimbledon final where he battled Roger Federer for five epic sets,

however it was 55th ranked Tampa, FL resident John Isner who stood tall - both literally and figuratively, and emerged with a five set victory over A-Rod during their third round match. Listed at 6'9", Isner has one of the most devastating serves on the men's tour, and rode that big serve (which at times topped out at over 140mph) to a career high 38 aces and a 7-6(3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6(5) win. The loss marks Roddick's earliet exit from the US Open since suffering a first round defeat in 2005. Isner next faces #10 seed Fernando Verdasco in the round of 16.

Fellow Tampa, FL resident James Blake did not fare as well as Isner, losing in straight sets to #14 seed Tommy Robredo 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4. Blake has been battling a foot injury he sustained in the last round of the Davis Cup where the US fell to Croatia, and came into this year's Open seeded 21st.

Being moved off Arthur Ashe Stadium and into the smaller Louis Armstrong court because of "time concerns", Dinara Safina wasted three match points at 6-5 in the third set and went down in defeat to unseeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5). The loss marks the end of a forgettable run into the third round for Safina where she struggled through her first two matches against much lower ranked opponents, and did absolutely nothing to justify her #1 world ranking in the eyes of her many critics. Regardless, she will leave this year's US Open with that ranking in tact.

Live televised coverage begins Sunday at 11am on CBS and switches over to the Tennis Channel at 7pm, with live webcast coverage available throughout at www.usopen.org

Video Highlights Available at: www.usopen.org/en_US/interactive/video/index.html

Be sure to check back tomorrow for a full recap of all the action from Day 7 of the 2009 US Open.