Upsets shook up the women’s main draw at the 2009 US Open on Thursday.
Fourth seed Elena Dementieva tumbled out of the draw in three sets to American teenager Melanie Oudin, followed by Yaroslava Shvedova’s ousting of fifth seed Jelena Jankovic.
Oudin first rose to prominence in women’s tennis after helping Team USA win a crucial Fed Cup tie earlier this season. Today in Flushing Meadows, she scored one of the biggest wins of her young career by beating reigning Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva in three sets 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Shvedova, who was born in Moscow but plays for Kazakhstan, stormed back to beat last year’s finalist Jelena Jankovic in three sets as well. The fifth seed was defeated 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6).
Afterward, Jankovic revealed that she could not focus during the match as she found out last night that her grandmother in Serbia had died.
“My grandmother died, and I was very close to her,” Jankovic said. “I was very sad and emotionally I was really not on court. I really tried my best to be there, and to try to play, but it was really hard.”
On the Baseline’s live coverage of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open is brought to you by Grand Slam Tennis Tours.
Condolences for Jelena and her family.
I saw a SI news article on the fashions of the tournament. One photo showed the muscular arms/shoulders of Serena Williams. Has she had the very defined muscles previously or is that a new training routine? When zipping through the photos, her muscular arms were much more noticable than the other women’s arms, but it could have just been the camera angle.
I am sorry for Jelena, playing with a hurting heart.
Enjoying your coverage of the tournament.