Wozniacki Ends Oudin Run at US Open

by Staff | September 9th, 2009, 11:39 pm
  • 3 Comments

No. 9 seed Caroline Wozniacki and unseeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer set up an unlikely semifinal meeting at the US Open with straight-set wins on Wednesday.
ADHEREL
Wozniacki proved the more consistent in ending the run of ever-consistent, ever-ready-bunny Melanie Oudin, defeating the unseeded 17-year-old 6-2, 6-2. It was a day when Oudin failed to produce her share of winners out of nowhere and “C’mon!”s, and for much of the match wore the desperate look of one who was convinced she should win, rather than playing the role of the fighting underdog.

“It was really tough match for me against Melanie,” Wozniacki said. “I mean, she’s had such a great run, such an amazing tournament. It’s always tough to play against a home favorite. And I knew how I was going to feel to be out there and the crowd, but I just used the energy and tried to covert it into some good tennis. I’m just so happy that I fought so well today and that I managed to pull the match out.”

Wozniacki hit only five winners to Oudin’s 43 unforced errors.


Oudin said she felt Wozniacki putting the pressure on her to end points.

“She’s such a strong player. She doesn’t give you anything for free,” Oudin said. “She plays incredible defense. Makes me hit a thousand balls and really is a really great player. I mean, I don’t know what else I could have done. I could have been more consistent and been more patient, but she really made me think out there and made me have to hit a winner on her to win the point.”

Wickmayer won an all-unseeded battle against Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 6-4. Bondarenko seemed lost for much of the match, looking at times as if she would burst into tears in frustration.

“I haven’t seen Yanina playing too much this tournament, but I know her really well from the juniors and we’ve played each other growing up,” Wozniacki said. “So, I mean right now I’m just so happy I’m in the semifinals. I’m just going to enjoy a day off tomorrow, and I’ll talk to my dad who is also my coach about the strategy.”

On the women’s side Thursday are the No. 4-seeded Williams sisters vs. No. 13-seeded Russians Alisa Kleybanova/Ekaterina Makarova.


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3 Comments for Wozniacki Ends Oudin Run at US Open

Ashino W. Sushanti Says:

Wozniacki played quite a smart match! She didn’t give Oudin any pace, which Melanie used to her advantage in previous matches with the russians. At that Oudin’s really great because she’s able to convert the speed of the balls into her advantage. And then Caroline’s almost Hingis-like in using her defensive skills, her shot variety and she did just a few unforced errors!! She knew pretty well don’t make errors, keep the ball in play, use angles and don’t give her to much pace. Hence a lot of Oudin’s shots came straight back and created much trouble for Oudin because she can’t generate enough speed on her own. So Melanie was doomed to do all the hard work, obviously Oudin didn’t know exactly what to do, how to react and in the end she did the errors, a bit desperate to hit winners. Woizniacki outplayed her completely with her clear game strategy, using her shots to play to Oudin’s backhand side, avoiding her forehand weapon and didn’t give her bunches of free points thanks to doublefaults, bad serving & unforced errors like Sharapova did or Dementiva during the third set. And let’s face it Oudin had a good run, no question about that, she’s very talented and will have a bright future but still she’s not top 10. There’s a lot to improve. For instance: her serve, her game tatctis, her backhand. She got lucky because especially Dementieva & Sharapova didn’t play at their best. And on top of all those circumstances too many distractions off court, which I think exposed an unfortunate lack of professional management of that media-“OUDIN-SENSATION”-craze.

September 11th, 2009 at 11:16 am


Skorocel Says:

“She got lucky because especially Dementieva & Sharapova didn’t play at their best.”

So by your logic, we could then say Wozniacki too was lucky that Oudin didn’t play at her best. LOL!

September 11th, 2009 at 2:53 pm


Ashino W. Sushanti Says:

LOL, you know the trouble with people like you it’s more about being bias than objective. Look at the stats especially concerning Sharapova with all her double faults and over 60 unforced erros. Lol

September 13th, 2009 at 9:54 am

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