Melanie Oudin, from Marietta, GA, took the court in both the singles and doubles draw of the Junior French Open looking to make it to the semifinals in each. After breezing through the first few rounds of the tournament at Roland Garros, Oudin struggled to find her game in her quarterfinal matches.
The top seed in the junior draw, Oudin had little trouble in the first three rounds of the tournament, moving on without dropping a set and only losing six games in the process. With momentum seemingly on Oudin’s side, she stepped onto the court for her quarterfinal match with Romania’s Elena Bogdan. Bogdan had more success in the early going then Oudin’s opponents in the first few rounds combined. The stats of the two players were very similar, but Bogdan came away with twelve more points then Oudin. This was a large enough hole to cause Oudin to lose the match 4-6, 4-6.
After losing such a tough match, Oudin was not done. Oudin and her partner Mallory Burdette were up in their quarterfinal match of the doubles draw. Their opponents in the quarterfinals were Jade Curtis of Britain, and Nikola Hofmanova of Austria. Oudin had already faced Curtis in the second round of the singles draw where she came away with a 6-1, 6-1 victory. This time it was Curtis who got the better of Oudin. With a 2-6, 5-7 loss, Oudin is now out of both the singles and doubles draw of the Junior French Open after looking strong in both the day before.
It was still a very successful tournament for Melanie Oudin. Despite the quarterfinals trouble, Oudin looked great for most of the tournament. However, America will have to wait a bit longer for its first French Open girl’s title since Jennifer Capriati in 1989.