The American teenage darling Melanie Oudin, who at last year’s US Open had such a surprising, memorable run to the quarterfinals, defeating big-name players who towered over her, could not duplicate the effort this year. Despite vociferous support from the hometown crowd, the Marietta, Ga. native went out, but not without a characteristic fight, losing to Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine, 6-2, 7-5.

The diminutive 18-year-old, who became a media sensation after her improbable string of defeats over big Russians - Dementieva, Sharapova and Petrova - last year, has had a difficult time backing up those results. She came into this year’s Open with a middling record and a ranking of 43 - one of just five American women in the Top 100.

Outfitted like the effervescent teen that she is, in a vibrant purple dress and neon yellow-and-purple sneakers (emblazoned with the word “Courage” rather than last year’s “Believe”), Oudin demonstrated her scrappy retrieving skills against Bondarenko, the No. 29 seed, but was far too erratic from the baseline, shanking balls and spraying forehands and backhands both long and wide.

The match was error-plagued on both sides. Bondarenko struck just three winners the entire match, while Oudin registered only nine.

On paper, this was a winnable match for Oudin. Bondarenko, 26, is only 10 spots higher in the rankings, and she too has had mediocre recent results. Except for her July nuptials (to her coach), 2010 has been less than stellar for the Ukrainian. She is 3-8 on hardcourts since the Australian Open, and just 1-4 since her marriage.

Oudin’s dramatic story last year and feisty personality obviously won her a lot of fans in New York. And even if there were few expectations that she might repeat such a feat, hope burned bright on Armstrong Stadium, as the blazing sun finally dipped behind the stands and provided much-needed shade.

Oudin broke back to even the second set at 5-all, amping up near-capacity Armstrong Stadium with a smacked forehand and a fist pump. But Bondarenko quieted the partisan crowd with a break back and a hold at love for victory.

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. - Melanie Oudin returned to the scene of the greatest performance of her young tennis career Monday sporting a new haircut, a new inspirational word on her sneakers (with “Courage” supplanting “Believe”) and, having celebrated her 18th birthday, “actually more like a professional instead of just a junior,” as she put it.

Granted the honor of opening proceedings on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court when the U.S. Open got under way, Oudin needed just 56 minutes to dismiss her overwhelmed opponent, 6-3, 6-0, allowing Olga Savchuk a mere two points in the second set, which was over in a merciful 18 minutes.

At 5-6 and 130 pounds, Oudin, a native of Marietta, Ga., can hardly be described as a giant in women’s tennis, a sport that’s increasingly dominated by players 5-10 and taller. But during her improbable run to the U.S. Open’s quarterfinals last year, Oudin toppled her share of towering figures -Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva, among them.

Oudin’s 2010 campaign hasn’t been as memorable, with more losses (20) than wins (18). And she has yet to conjure comparable magic at the majors, losing in the first round of the Australian and French Opens and advancing just one round at Wimbledon.

Nonetheless, during Monday’s post-match interview Oudin accentuated the positive of nearly every experience she has had since seizing the U.S. Open’s headlines at 17. “I’ve been improving my game,” Oudin noted. “I think my serve has gotten better. I’m working on a lot of things.”

But when prodded, she conceded there has been a downside to her sudden success.

“Of course everyone loves to be the underdog because you can go out there, no matter who you’re playing, you’re not supposed to win,” Oudin said. “So you can go out there and play with everything that you have and just completely go for it, and no one expects anything from you. I think that’s when everyone plays their best.”

Oudin confessed to a bout of nerves on the eve of Monday’s match and took the court with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. But she took a few deep breaths and reminded herself it was a match like any other, rather than the curtain-lifter on the U.S. Open.

And after breaking Savchuk’s serve a second time, Oudin took charge, steamrolling through the first four games of the second set without surrendering a point and closing with a two-fisted backhand winner down the line.

Melanie Oudin returned to the scene of her 2009 coming-out party, defeating 143rd-ranked Olga Savchuk, 6-3, 6-0, to kick off the 2010 US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday.

Oudin ran through four Russians in her run to the quarterfinals at last year’s US Open, including upsets of 2004 runner-up Elena Dementieva and 2006 champion Maria Sharapova. Just 18-24 since then, Oudin shrugged off two early break points to wrestle momentum away from her Ukrainian opponent for good.

The 18-year-old native of Marietta, Ga. won the final nine games of the match, dropping just two of 26 points in the second set.

“I can’t believe they actually put me first on the court at the US Open,” Oudin said in an on-court interview following her win. “That’s a real honor for me.”

At first glance, Oudin appeared a different player than the one who dominated New York City sports pages last September. With shorter hair pulled back behind a bandana — and not a visor — Oudin replaced her 2009 shoe slogan of “Believe” with the word “Courage”.

Appearances aside, Oudin’s play proved eerily similar to the style she thrived under last season, with fast feet, flat forehands and at least two dozen “Come on” chants echoing throughout the largest tennis stadium in the world.

The 5′6″ Oudin used the aforementioned footwork, forehand and feelings to take the first game, crunching a short ball for an inside-out winner. However, Savchuk countered early with a tricky serve that rattled the American’s return.

Even at 3-3, Savchuk reached 15-40 on Oudin’s serve. The unseeded American hit winners to save both break points, held by belting a down-the-line backhand and never looked back.

Oudin approached the net for her 11th winner of the first set to take it 6-3 in 38 minutes. She needed only 18 more to finish the match, inching inside the baseline to bash winners at will off both her forehand and backhand wings.

“After I won the first set, everything just felt good again,” said Oudin. “I started moving my feet a lot more and was feeling really good out there. I’m happy to be back on Ashe again.”

In about as clean of a set that a professional tennis player can put together, Oudin won the first 16 points and 24 of 26 points overall in the second set, hitting nine winners, making zero unforced errors and winning all 12 points on her serve.

She clinched her first match point by ending a cross-court rally with a down-the-line backhand that blew past Savchuk.

Oudin will meet No. 29 seed Alona Bondarenko in the second round. She is in the same section of the draw as French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and in-form Belarusian Victoria Azarenka. But after her Cinderella run to the quarterfinals last season, Oudin knows better than to look too far down the draw.

“I’m just taking it match by match this year,” said Oudin. “I’m just going to keep playing well, practicing hard and hopefully I can do it again.”

By AP- Howard Fendrich

NEW YORK — Getting set to head to a practice session, Melanie Oudin was lingering outside Arthur Ashe Stadium the other day when a trio of women approached the darling of the 2009 U.S. Open.

One told Oudin what an inspiration she is and asked if they could take a photo. Oudin obliged, posing and smiling for three of the many, many fans who most likely never had heard of the teen from Marietta, Ga., a year ago at this time.

She came into the U.S. Open, her fourth career Grand Slam tournament, ranked 70th, then proceeded to knock off three-time major champion Maria Sharapova and 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva en route to reaching the quarterfinals. Oudin’s mid-match comebacks, gee-whiz attitude and pink-and-yellow sneakers with “BELIEVE” stamped on the heels put her in the spotlight. Her victories made her, at 17, the youngest U.S. Open quarterfinalist since Serena Williams in 1999.

The 50 weeks since then haven’t gone nearly as well.

“It’s been a tough year, because people out there are placing expectations on her,” said Oudin’s coach, Brian de Villiers. “People forget she’s only 18. … For her to just get dropped into that at this age — there’s no training for this. This is all firsthand experience.”

The U.S. Open begins Monday, and Oudin returns to the site of her breakthrough having lost four matches in a row. She also endured a six-match losing streak at tournaments earlier this season, part of a 17-20 record. Her 1-3 mark at the year’s other three Grand Slam tournaments includes first-round losses at the Australian Open and French Open, and a second-round exit at Wimbledon.

“Look, last year was totally different,” de Villiers said. “She was the new kid in town. Nobody knew her. So you’re not going to get that again. But it’s still fun to be here, and of course she wants to try to do as well — or better. That’s always the goal.”

Oudin — it’s pronounced oo-DAN — is ranked 44th this week, down from a career-best 31st in April, but leaps and bounds ahead of where she was not all that long ago. She was ranked 373rd at the end of 2007, and 177th at the end of 2008.

She is, by about 2 1/2 months, the youngest member of the top 85 in the rankings. Plus, she’s the highest-ranked American not named Williams: Serena is No. 1, Venus is No. 4.

“I definitely feel a lot more pressure than last year,” Oudin said after a first-round loss at a hard-court tournament in Cincinnati this month. “Almost every person in the United States expects me to win every single match I play, so, I mean, that’s kind of a little bit of pressure.”

Listed by the WTA at 5-foot-6 and 130 pounds, Oudin is not going to overpower too many opponents. Instead, she relies on a baseline-covering, counterpunching style.

“I really admire her game,” seven-time major champion Venus Williams said. “She really makes the most out of her body and her talent. You know that if you are (playing) against Melanie, you have to give 100 percent on every point.”

As someone who drew a lot of attention as a teen on the tennis tour, Williams was asked what advice she would offer Oudin, who makes clear she tires of discussing what happened during her U.S. Open debut.

“I would just say, stay focused and definitely don’t read the articles, and if you’re on TV, turn it on mute,” Williams said.

The extra money — Oudin signed one endorsement deal about 20 minutes before taking the court to face eventual runner-up Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals — and extra attention come along with extra demands on her time and extra queries about that magical run through the draw.

“Everyone asked me in my press conference after I lost in Wimbledon — and even the French — they kept saying, ‘How did it feel to get to the quarterfinals of U.S. Open?’ I’m like, ‘Aren’t we at Wimbledon? Like, aren’t we at the French Open? Why are you talking about the U.S. Open, when that was almost a year ago?’

“Now it’s exactly a year ago, almost,” Oudin said, “so I’m looking forward to not talking about it anymore.”

Last year, teenage Melanie Oudin stole the hearts of millions of Americans thanks to her incredible Cinderella run at the US Open. Will she be able to repeat this year?

Oudin can take that first step towards repeating today, when she faces Ukranian Olga Savchuk in the 1st round of the 2010 US Open. The match is scheduled for 11 am Monday, Arthur Ashe Stadium.