Elena Dementieva Out As Seeds Struggle
04 September 2009
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Day four of the U.S. Open was not good for the women's seeds as Elena Dementieva and Jankovic both went crashing out of the competition.
Dementieva became the first big named casualty to fall in the second round as she faced American Melanie Oudin.
Despite suffering from a thigh injury the teenager had the crowd on her side as she battled back after dropping the first set to the fourth seed.
She kept her composure to level the match before beginning to struggle in the final set with injury.
With a 2-0 lead in the final set over Dementieva the American had to take a medical timeout which resulted in some heavy strapping.
But the Olympic champion couldn't take advantage of the situation and trailed 3-1 after the treatment break as Oudin bravely fought on.
Despite clearly suffering from pain Oudin held on for a famous victory.
After her match she spoke to the BBC saying: "Going into that last point I was thinking I might not get another chance so I just had to go for it with a big serve and I was lucky it went in.
"The crowd supporting me helped me get through."
Another competitive women's match followed as Jankovic faced Yaroslava Shvedova that last over two and a half hours.
Jankovic was inconsistent throughout the match as she struggled to hold onto her own serve at times before showing flashes of brilliance to break Shvedova with ease.
But it was Shvedova that drew first blood as she easily took the first set. It looked like it was going to be a straight forward win until Jankovic battled back taking it to a tie break.
And the tie break was just as tense as the former world number one let an early break disappear before digging deep to take it 4-7.
But once again inconsistency's crept into her game in the third set, failing to convert match points. But Shvedova help her nerve to grab her match points in the third set tie break with an ace to win 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (8-6).
After the match Jankovic revealed that her grandmother had passed away on Wednesday.
It was another difficult day for world number one Dinara Safina as she struggled to see off Germany's Kristina Barrois.
Safina, who is still looking for her first Grand Slam title, struggled and was once again taken to three sets as errors littered her game.
In a match that lasted over two hours she served up fifteen double faults and dropped up the first set on a tight tie-break.
She managed to pull herself together to win the next two sets but her performance was less than convincing as she wrapped up the game 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-3.
There were impressive wins for Caroline Wozniacki as she dropped just one game against Petra Martic winning 6-1 6-0.
There was also another victory for Maria Sharapova as she saw off Christina McHale 6-2 6-1. The French Open champion, who has struggled with her form since her win in Roland Garros, progressed through winning 6-4 6-2.
Serena Williams has been the most impressive player so far in the women's draw and she returns to court today against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain.
Venus Williams is also in action against Magdalena Rybarikova.
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