Wozniacki to roll US at Open Quarter Finals
The end of the road for Melanie Oudin
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 06:27 AM ET
By: Crazy Lou | crazylou.mysbrforum.com
In a battle of youth versus youth, oddsmakers have world #8 Caroline Wozniacki as a -225 favorite to prevail over the fiery 17 year old up-and-comer Melanie Oudin at the US Open quarter finals.
People love Cinderella stories. I’m not one of them. I preferred the Lion King. There will be 23,000 onlookers at the Arthur Ashe Stadium Wednesday evening, of which only a handful will be cheering for Caroline Wozniacki. It does not take much to impress the American public, as the ratings of several awful reality shows will tell you, and they’ve certainly gobbled up all of this Melanie Oudin hype as a much needed breath of fresh air was provided to WTA fans. I’m not trying to knock what Melanie has accomplished so far, as a 17 year old it is quite remarkable, cutting through Dementieva, Sharapova, and then Petrova is something special. She also upset Jelena Jankovic this past Wimbledon. The youngster has had an exceptional year, shown tremendous poise and composure in pressure situations, and her consistency and tendency to make opponents hit that ‘extra ball’ has paid huge dividends.
Is she the most talented player, even at her age? Probably not, but all of her mental and physical faculties are in order, she’s capable, she’s a competitor, and has proven to be clutch. There are many women playing that could blast Oudin off the court, really demean her with their ground-strokes, and just humiliate the 17 year old, but these are women with their own demons, too. Maria Sharapova committed 25 faults in their Round 3 match up, and littered the stat sheet with unforced errors. It’s easy to look at Oudin advancing over a name that star-studded and get all googly eyed, but let’s keep things in perspective, Oudin was controlled enough to secure a win that was gifted to her.
Oudin is not intimidated by the big stage. I expect her to play her game, give it all she has, and leave it all on the court. I expect for the short fiery youngster to give the audience plenty of “Come On’s!” after she makes a big point, and I expect the audience to eat that right up as they cheer on the fan favorite American contender. This all sounds well and good, just reading this makes me warm aside, but I left out one thing- - that’s Caroline Wozniacki in the back court.
Caroline Wozniacki to roll
Trying to think of what the score-line of this match will be actually makes me squeamish, because I really think it’s going to be ugly. I’m talking double bagel bad, 6-0, 6-0. I really hope Melanie Oudin’s heart is as big as we all think it is, and that she can handle being back-handed out of the US Open quarter finals like an unruly fan who ran onto the court would be, because she’s going home Wednesday night.
It is a battle of counter-puncher versus counter-puncher, and Caroline Wozniacki, world #8 at 19 years old, the only player under 20 in the top 10, is simply more polished than the American. Caroline has won more matches in 2009 than any woman in the WTA, she’s won tournaments, inched further into the top 10, and has improved her fitness big time. This is her first Grand Slam quarter final match too, and expecting anything less than the Great Dane’s best, particularly after she kept it together to dismiss former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in round 4, is simply not being realistic.
I’m hoping the match lives up to the hype that ESPN and other failed tennis handicapping evaluators are creating, but the sharp punter in me knows that Caroline Wozniacki is going to win wire to wire. Anybody who says any different will be looking for the nearest oven to stick their head in after Caroline chews up and spits out the 5 foot 6 youngster like she was an oversized jalapeno.
6-0. 6-0.
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Originally Posted by durito
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