Melanie Oudin: The Teenage Sensation Marches Along!

A match at Arthur Ashe stadium with a sell-out New York crowd, against a three-time Grand Slam champion, and yet another WTA heavyweight? No big deal!

Melanie Oudin continues to prove that her upsets over Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva were no flukes as she upset the 2006 U.S. Open champion, Maria Sharapova, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, in a thrilling, entertaining and nail-biting three-set contest to march into yet another Fourth Round at a Grand Slam tournament.

This match was a fierce battle of street fighters who were full of energy, exactly what is expected at the Open. Violent decibels during rallies were met with silent force, determination was met with aggression and confidence, muted fist pumps were met with deafening "Come On"s.

Oudin was at a definitive disadvantage going into the match, as the short American was up against a giant Russian.

Sharapova's heavy ground strokes were no match for Oudin initially. The plucky American started off by losing her opening service game, and Sharapova cruised through hers. Even though Maria lost a service game, she broke Oudin thrice to easily win the first set 6-2.

Not to go down easily, Oudin upped her game in the second set. Her movement across court is economical and fantastic—just like her idol Justine Henin—and her court coverage is definitely among the best in the tour. She was running down everything thrown by Sharapova, and pounding them back with equal velocity.

Maria started struggling in the second as Oudin's ground strokes were penetrative and close to the lines, while she controlled the pace of the play by cleverly using slice backhands, which were proving difficult for the tall

Russian. 

This shot especially saved her throughout the match, as it gave her a time to regroup during the rally, while it stayed low enough to trouble the much taller Sharapova.

Oudin's topspin backhand was no less impressive, as she was efficiently hitting them at shoulder height for most of the match.

The best part of Oudin's game, though, was the returns of serve.

The statistics shows that the double-fault queen, Sharapova, committed 21 double faults, but it was Oudin who forced them with her accurate returns—even on Sharapova's high velocity first serves—with minimal backswing, which were hitting behind the service line more often that not.

This forced the Russian beauty to get too fine with her already-balky serve, and the pressure of trying to be perfect clearly cost Sharapova dearly.

The fact that the American got an otherworldly 26 break-point opportunities speaks volumes about how well she returned throughout the match.

Oudin quickly raced through a 5-1 lead in the second, but wilted under pressure as she missed an easy overhead smash at set point.

Sharapova showed her gladiator spirit as she bounced back with two breaks, but eventually Oudin got over the disappointment of missing seven set point opportunities to take the second set 6-4, as the Arthur Ashe stadium went wild.

The third set was as unpredictable as it could get, as both players went for the kill. Anything less than the lines were being pounded back, and winners from both players were making the crowd go wild.

Service games had become a liability, as the players were exchanging breaks one after the other. The match reached its peak at 2-4 in the final set when Sharapova saved six break points and lost two game points before finally winning the game to the huge disappointment of Oudin.

Driving on the momentum, Maria promptly broke Oudin back to level the match, 4-4, but Oudin's win looked inevitable when she broke back to serve for the match at 5-4.

Not so fast!

It required two more breaks of serves before Sharapova's backhand sailed long and Oudin rose her hands and jumped in excitement winning the match 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in a match which lasted beyond 150 minutes!

Sneak a peek folks, Melanie Oudin is for real!