Last year, after gaining a wildcard spot in the U.S. Open and then losing in the first round, Melanie Oudin was ranked outside the top 200. Now, just one year later, the 17 year old tennis player from Marietta, Georgia, defeated #13 ranked Nadia Petrova to advance to the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. Oudin is the youngest woman to reach the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open since Serena Williams who won the tournament in 1999.
This is the first time Melanie Oudin has reached the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam tournament. After defeating Russian stars Elena Dementieva and Maria Sharapova in the previous two rounds, Oudin will play either Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark or 2004 champ Svetlana Kuznetsova from Russia next.