Once she drops the first set, Melanie Oudin has her opponents right where she wants them u00e2u0080u0094 set up to fall before the teen comeback queen of the US Open.
Once she drops the first set, Melanie Oudin has her opponents right where she wants them set up to fall before the teen comeback queen of the US Open.
The 17-year-old American ousted Russian 13th seed Nadia Petrova 1-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 on Monday to reach the quarter-finals of the year's last Grand Slam tournament, her third upset recovery in a row after losing the first set.
"I don't actually mean to lose the first set," Oudin said. "I sometimes just start off slowly. Maybe I'm a little nervous and all this stuff."
It's easy to see why. After playing mainly second-level events, Oudin is now inspiring standing ovations before sellout crowds at Arthur Ashe Stadium after comebacks to beat fourth seed Elena Dementieva and ex-No 1 Maria Sharapova.
The pixie-esque blonde speedster runs down shots and keeps the pressure on rivals to the last ball even after falling a set behind.
"I think it's just that mentally I'm staying in there with them the whole time and I'm not giving up at all so if they are going to beat me, they are going to beat me, because I'm not going to go anywhere," Oudin said.
It helps!Losing the first set might even help bring the energy from the edge of desperation she needs to defeat elite foes, Oudin said.
"I think it does help me because I've been in that situation many times of losing the first set and being able to come back and win," she said.
"Because I do well with forgetting about the first one and starting over like it's a totally new match, so I forget about the first set. I'm just going to start off and my mind is going to be just on what's happening right then."
Oudin improved to 9-2 this year when losing the first set, and 17-4 in all three-setters, by beating Petrova.
Results:
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) bt Gisela Dulko (ARG) 6-0, 6-0
Melanie Oudin (USA) bt Nadia Petrova (RUS x13) 1-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
