Oudin fells Petrova to move into quarters

Paes-Dlouhy pair enters doubles semifinals

When she smacked a forehand winner on her third match point, Oudin dropped her racket, raised her arms, and looked at the sky while nearly 24,000 at Arthur Ashe Stadium roared.

"Today there are no tears because I believed that I could do it," the rapidly maturing 17-year-old said after reaching her first major quarterfinal with a 1-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory over Nadia Petrova, her fourth straight against a Russian.

Next up for Oudin will be Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki who toppled sixth seed and 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 7-6, 7-6 to reach her first grand slam quarterfinal.

While the wide-eyed Oudin is chock-full of emotions on every point, 15-times grand slam champion Federer remains unruffled as he mows down each of his opponents.
Monday's victim was 14th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo, who was sent off wondering what hit him after being on the receiving end of a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 masterclass. Federer, father of twins Charlene and Myla, had nine aces, no double faults, and 35 winners in the fourth-round match.

On pleasant, unseasonably cool day at Flushing Meadows, the curtain came down on American men's tennis. John Isner's 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 loss to Fernando Verdasco of Spain marked the first time since tennis turned professional in 1968 that no American male advanced to the Open quarterfinals.

While the steely Federer was workmanlike in dispatching Robredo, it was Oudin who lit up Flushing Meadows once again. She is playing like Cinderella, doing everything she can do prevent the clock from striking midnight. Her play energised the throng who chose to spend Labor Day watching America's newest darling reach the final eight for the first time in a grand slam tournament.  Oudin opened her dizzying run by defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, then shocked fourth seed Elena Dementieva and former champion Maria Sharapova.

She insists there are no secrets on how to beat a Russian. 'I don't think they had weaknesses," she said.

Paes, Bhupathi progress

India’s Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lucas Dlouhy moved into the semifinals of the men’s doubles event on Tuesday.

Paes and Dlouhy, seeded fourth, notched a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over South African Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman of Belarus. In the semis, Paes and Dlouhy will face the Bryan brothers, Mike and Bob, of the US.

Paes, partnering Cara Black of Zimbabwe had beaten  Australian-Swede combination of Rennae Stubbs and Robert Lindstedt 7-5, 3-6, 10-6 to reach the mixed doubles semifinal on Monday. Mahesh Bhupathi and his American partner Liezel Huber entered the mixed doubles semifinals following an emphatic 6-4, 6-3 win over eighth seeds Bethanie Mattek of the US and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic.

Bhupathi, partnering Mark Knowles of Bahamas, has also entered the men’s doubles quarters, beating Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei and Israeli Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-4.
India’s Sudanwa Sitaram lost in the first round of the boys’ singles to local lad Alexander Domijan 3-6, 6-3, 5-7.

Results:  Men’s singles, fourth round: 4-Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt 15-Radek Stepanek (Czech) 6-1, 6-3, 6-3; 10-Fernando Verdasco (Spa) bt John Isner (US) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; 1-Roger Federer (Swi) bt 14-Tommy Robredo (Spa) 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
Women’s singles, fourth round: 9-Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt 6-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3); Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) bt Petra Kvitova (Czech) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5; Melanie Oudin (US) bt 13-Nadia Petrova (Rus) 1-6, 7-6, (2) 6-3.

Clijsters marches into semifinal

Unseeded former champion Kim Clijsters charged into the semifinals of the US Open after routing error-prone Na Li of China 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.