Even in defeat, it’s difficult not to like Melanie Oudin.

The 18-year-old from Marietta, Ga. lost in the first round of the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament Monday to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, and headed off to the U.S. Open to try to recapture the magic that made her the darling of American tennis last year.

Then, on America’s biggest stage, she played with confidence and enthusiasm while making very few mistakes en route to beating Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova before losing to Pilot Pen champion Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals.

Monday Oudin was solid, and the match could have gone either way. She played a little too defensive though, which just didn’t put nearly enough pressure on Cibulkova. She was good, but not great. Until, that is, she went into the interview room after the match.

There, you could see this kid’s composure. You could feel her confidence and sense of perspective. She made you believe that some day she will win a Grand Slam. Some day, she will live up to everyone else’s expectations. It may even come next week.

For now, she understands that even if she is the top-ranked American women’s player behind the Williams sisters, not every tournament is going to be a magical U.S. Open run.

“Oh it was great, and it was something I will definitely remember for the rest of my life,” Oudin said. “But the thing is, everyone has only one Cinderella story and that was mine last year at the U.S. Open. But now I feel like I belong there. I took a huge leap way quicker than people normally do.”

She’s gonna be alright, because she understands. She’s a well-grounded athlete who still has a lovable amount of kid left in her. After Monday’s disappointing loss, she was smiling and upbeat. She joked about unveiling a new pair of colorful sneakers at the U.S. Open with a new inspirational word on them similar to the ones she wore last year inscribed with “Believe.”

She talked about how Saturday she was getting 10 inches of her beautiful blond hair cut off to be donated to Locks of Love to make hairpieces for sick children.

Last year, Oudin was forced to grow up quickly, perhaps too quickly, because of the pressure her own success placed upon her. She said she was as surprised as anyone, because throughout junior tennis she had always been a late bloomer.

Then all of a sudden at age 17 she works her way through the Wimbledon qualifying tournament and through to the main draw fourth round. When she followed it up with her incredible U.S. Open, everyone expected continued success would come easily.

“I happened to play my best tennis at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, two Grand Slam events,” Oudin said. “So of course, everyone is like, ‘Great year. You have had an unbelievable year.’ Well, the rest of my results were kind of like this year. They have been OK, but nothing great.”

She said that with Serena and Venus not playing in any of the U.S. Open Series events so far this summer, it has been a little overwhelming to have the hopes of American tennis placed upon her. But she is growing and finding reasons to be upbeat even on days she loses in the first round.

She was pleased with the fact that she came back to win the second set Monday and actually led, 2-1, in the third set. She played more at the net than normal and felt her service game was pretty good.

Even if everyone else is in a hurry to see her emerge as the next great American player, she is showing patience and understanding. She is content being the No. 44-ranked player in the world with both the potential and the personality to get better and some day make a more sustainable mark on the game.

“I think I am doing fine,” Oudin. “I am still the youngest player in the Top 100 and I am fine with how everything is going. I am just going to keep working hard.”

She went into last year’s U.S. Open with no expectations and came out a celebrity. Even if she can’t play the lead role in another Cinderella story this year, she is taking the same approach. She’s learned to deal with the off-court distractions and demands, and she is just going to try to be herself on the court.

“I want to go into it like I did last year,” Oudin said, “playing with no pressure and just going for it.”