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Tom Rinaldi on the current state of American tennis

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  Tom Rinaldi on the current state of American tennis

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NEW YORK -- It's right there on her shoes: "Believe." Melanie Oudin always has, though even she had to admit this latest accomplishment felt a bit overwhelming.

Maybe that helped explain why her leg was cramping, why the tears were falling, why the match points were slipping away toward the end of her U.S. Open upset over fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva on Thursday.

"First time playing on Arthur Ashe, I was beating No. 4 in the world, about to beat her," Oudin said. "Just a little bit of everything. A lot of things were going through my mind."

The 17-year-old from Marietta, Ga., ranked 70th in the world, won 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. She is now, by almost every account, the next great American hope in women's tennis.

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Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty ImagesMelanie Oudin came back from a set down to beat No. 4 Elena Dementieva at the U.S. Open.

She places this upset next to the one over No. 6 Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon that catapulted her into the top 100. Or maybe a little above it.

That one was on Court 3 in front of hundreds an ocean away. This one was in Arthur Ashe Stadium in front of thousands in her home country.

"I think it means more to me, though, since this is the U.S. Open," Oudin said. "You know, I had the whole crowd cheering for me, so much support."

She played much of the third set with a heavy wrap on her left thigh, a lingering injury she said shouldn't prevent her from returning for her third-round match against 29th-seeded Maria Sharapova.

The United States has long been looking for depth in a talent pool that has consisted of Serena and Venus Williams dominating at the top, with not too much beyond them.

"They've been, like, my idols," Oudin said. "I'm really proud of that, to be the third-best American."

She started moving up the list at Wimbledon, where she became the youngest American to reach the fourth round since Jennifer Capriati in 1993.

Between then and now, she still had to go through qualifying to get into main draws in tournaments in the U.S. Somewhere in the midst of all that, her boyfriend prodded her into sticking the word "Believe" on her shoes.

"It seems to fit me well," she said.

Dementieva agreed. She committed 37 unforced errors but insisted she did not hand the victory to Oudin. The Russian hit winners to stave off Oudin's first two match points.

"So I needed to go for a big serve, and it went in," Oudin said.

For a winner.

"She was in the court, not afraid to play, playing very aggressively, really enjoying this atmosphere and the crowd support," Dementieva said. "It looks like she has a good future."

Later on the show court, Jankovic lost 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6) to Yaroslava Shvedova in a 2-hour, 40-minute match.

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Timothy A. Clary/Getty ImagesYaroslava Shvedova had never before defeated an opponent ranked higher than No. 15.

That further opened up the weaker half of the draw -- both Williams sisters are on the opposite side -- maybe for No. 1 Dinara Safina, who stayed alive in the quest for her first major but in ugly fashion. She defeated Germany's Kristina Barrois 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 despite 38 unforced errors and 15 double faults in her second straight uncomfortably close match.

She is ranked first despite having never won a major and she did little in this match against the 67th-ranked player to cool the debate about whether she really belongs there.

Safina, playing in a smaller venue for a Thursday matinee, needed 2 hours, 13 minutes, much of which looked like the 2-hour, 25-minute display she put on in her three-set opener against Olivia Rogowska.

"When you are playing on the court and you're fighting, maybe in some stages you're not playing your best," Safina said. "But you're still here and the crowd is supporting you and that just gives you another edge."

Shvedova had never defeated an opponent ranked higher than No. 15. The 21-year-old from Kazakhstan closed out the third-set tiebreak with an ace after setting up match point with an overhead slam to end a long rally.

"I was very sad and emotionally I was really not on court," Jankovic said. "I really tried my best to be there and to try to play, but it was really hard.

"You could see I was not happy on the court. I was really suffering. I tried to think about my tennis, but I felt like I was so late and so slow," she said.

Jankovic lost in the final at the U.S. Open last year but the former top-ranked player has not advanced past the fourth round at a Grand Slam this year.

"When you are sad, when you are down, you're not the same person," she said. "You don't move as well. You don't hit the ball as well. My head wasn't really there. I just was so -- it was like a shadow of myself.

"But, you know, what can you do? Life goes on and I have to try to stay hopefully positive as much as I can, get through this," she said.

The 55th-ranked Shvedova also reached the third round at the French Open this year.

Sharapova won 16 of 18 points during one stretch en route to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Christina McHale, a 17-year-old from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., who is ranked 381. "Some of the rallies, it was, 'Yeah, this is OK, I'm in there,'" McHale said. "And some of them were, 'Wow, I still have a lot to work on.'"

Sharapova has lost a total of six games in two matches.

Looking ahead to facing Oudin, Sharapova said: "I definitely have to go out there and expect her to play some of her best tennis."

Sharapova, winner of three majors including the 2006 U.S. Open, missed the trip to Flushing Meadows last year because of a shoulder injury. She returned to playing singles in May but has yet to win a title this year.

Former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-4, 6-2 in just 63 minutes to reach the third round.

The French Open champion was not at her best, committing 30 unforced errors, but was still too good for world No. 95 Sevastova.

Sevastova, 19, had reached the second round thanks to her first Grand Slam win and did have two break points to pull even at 5-5 in the first set.

But after taking the opener, 2004 Open champion Kuznetsova eased through the second and now awaits the winner of the match between Israel's Shahar Peer and Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.

No. 13 Nadia Petrova, No. 21 Zheng Jie and No. 24 Sorana Cirstea advanced. No. 30 Alona Bondarenko and No. 23 Sabine Lisicki lost, with Lisicki spraining her ankle on match point and needing a wheelchair to be helped off Court 11.

The Williams sisters won their opening doubles match 6-2, 6-2 over Julia Goerges and Arantxa Parra Santonja, answering the questions about whether Venus would play in that event because of her sore knee.

"I actually felt pretty good today," Venus said. "I'm going to definitely be in both events."

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.