Melanie Oudin was ousted in the 1st round at the e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open in Copenhagen. The US teenage sensation was defeated by Michaella Krajicek 6-1, 7-5.

Oudin will now turn her focus on the grass court season and the year’s 3rd Grand Slam event, Wimbledon.

Reported by The New York Times (John Branch)

PARIS — Melanie Oudin is finally comfortable. Since the 2009 United State Open, where she was a spunky 17-year-old beating back a series of high-ranked Russians on the way to the quarterfinals, Oudin has carried the weight of follow-up expectations on her 5-foot-6 frame.

She spent 2010 not living up to the hopes heaped on her, and every question about her wild run at Flushing Meadows dripped with a tone of disappointment. In April 2010, her ranking peaked at No. 31. It fell precipitously the rest of the year.

Still only 19, Oudin’s ranking has settled in at No. 88. She has not made it past the second round of any of the Grand Slams since that 2009 Open, but sometimes shows glimpses of becoming the high-level player so many want her to be.

“I feel like I’m getting better,” Oudin said on Monday, after she was wiped out of the French Open’s first round by the defending champion, Francesca Schiavone, 6-2, 6-0. “It’s just taking more time, really, than I was hoping, because I had such a good run at the U.S. Open. But I feel like where my ranking is now is where I should be.”

That statement sounded surprising, given her meteoric arrival in 2009 and the American penchant for latching onto the next big thing. But some speculated at the time that Oudin would struggle to compete consistently with the bevy of strong, 6-foot peers in her age group. She spent much of last year trying to get stronger. The results were not felt on the court.

Oudin finds herself caught in the middle — not as big and strong as the army of today’s young players, but not as spry as the smaller ones that have found success in the mode of the now-retired Justine Henin. Best among those currently playing is the 5-foot-5½ Schiavone, who showed on Monday that she is far faster and craftier than Oudin, despite being more than 11 years older.

In one notable second-set sequence, Oudin pounded a ball to Schiavone’s right that looked out of reach. But Schiavone lunged and stabbed it, sending it back with pace. Oudin responded with a shot to Schiavone’s left. Schiavone used her one-handed backhand to rifle the ball down the line, punctuating the rally with a fist pump.

But Oudin’s enthusiasm persists despite her spate of early exits. She beat Schiavone last year, indoors in San Diego during the Fed Cup. This year on the hard courts at Miami, she beat the rising German star Julia Goerges.

After Oudin’s loss on Monday, she was as pleasant and perky as ever. She is headed toward the grass and hard-court seasons, where she is more comfortable. Her ranking should stabilize, because her struggles last year left her with few points to defend (points fall off after one year) in upcoming tournaments.

“I’m going to be playing a lot of tournaments the rest of the year,” Oudin said. “And I don’t have many points to defend. So hopefully it can only go up.”

Reported by rolandgarros.com

Defending Roland Garros champion Francesca Schiavone began her French Open campaign with a convincing 6-2, 6-0 win over America’s Melanie Oudin. The no.5 seed, who famously kissed the clay when she earned her first Grand Slam title here last year at the age of 29, produced a solid performance to see off world no.88 Oudin in a match that took just 62 minutes.

The women are no strangers, having met on three previous occasions with Schiavone leading the head-to-head 2-1. However, it was the American who won their last encounter during the 2010 Fed Cup Final in straight sets. Today Schiavone was fresh for revenge and opened the day’s play as she meant to go on despite the sweltering conditions on Philippe Chatrier Court. The Italian set the pattern of the match by breaking her 19-year-old opponent in the opening game and followed it up with textbook tennis.

Milan-born Schiavone served up deft drops shots, sizzling slices and ferocious forehand winners to wrong-foot Oudin, who frequently looked at her camp with despair. The defending champion soon raced into a 5-2 lead but then suffered a brief attack of nerves, failing to capitalise on four set points, one with a double fault, but eventually regained composure to close out the first set at the fifth attempt.

That momentary lapse of form was soon put behind her as Schiavone rattled through the second set without dropping a game, hitting 25 winners throughout the match compared with Oudin’s six. And there was no doubt the 30-year-old looked comfortable on the red stuff. “[There was]a lot of adrenaline. I felt really happy to be there,” Schiavone said after the match. “That court is fantastic, because it is compact. The court is perfect. Everything is going around you and it is like when you go home and your Mum does everything for you and you feel comfortable? I felt like this.” Oudin is also convinced the Italian is a definite contender for the title. “She is serving well; she’s moving well; she pretty much doesn’t have a weakness on the clay. I can see how she won the French Open last year,” she added.

Schiavone will face Vesna Dolonts in the second round as she bids to repeat her 2010 success, when she became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam. That victory also enabled her to become the second Italian after Flavia Penetta ever to rank in the top 10 and she became the first ever in the top five after this year’s Australian Open.

Italian veteran Alberta Brianti defeated teenager Melanie Oudin, 75 57 60 to reach the semfinal in Fes, Morocc.

As well as winning the second set, Oudin almost won the first. Having retrieved a break to level at 4-4, the American teenager held a set point at 5-4 on Brianti’s serve. Yet the 31-year-old held on to level at 5-5, broke her opponent for 6-5 and didn’t flinch when Oudin had a chance in the next game to break back and force a tie-break.

Oudin also fought gamely from 4-2 down in the second set, winning three games straight and holding set point at 5-4 on her opponent’s delivery. But although she would finally level proceedings two games later, on her fourth set point, a remarkable shift in momentum was to occur. Brianti broke serve in the first game of the decider and didn’t lose another game, securing her place in the semis after 2 hours 45 minutes of play.

Melanie Oudin advanced to the quarterfinal in Morocco earlier today, when Slovenia’s Polona Hercog was forced to withdraw from the event due to an ankle injury. This will be Oudin’s 1st quarterfinal of the year.

She faces Alberta Brianti for a spot in the semifinal.