Melanie Oudin

This match slipped away from Melanie Oudin as quickly as her impatient forehands sailed out of the court, big bunches of errors coming faster and faster. It disappeared into the hands of a steady but unspectacular 27-year-old Italian named Roberta Vinci. "She's 10 years older than me," the 18-year-old Oudin said, exaggerating the age difference by a year. Oudin, the highest-ranked American woman in the draw of the BNP Paribas Open at No. 41, made a quick exit from the tournament at Indian Well Tennis Garden on Thursday.

Jimmie Johnson won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday in Alabama, dipping to the inside and beating Clint Bowyer by 0.002 of a second — matching the closest finish in Sprint Cup history. Four pairs of cars surged toward the line for a typical Talladega finish, and it took a replay to show that Johnson edged Bowyer by about a foot. Johnson was pushed across the line by Dale Earnhardt Jr. , who finished fourth. Pole-sitter Jeff Gordon , squeezed between Bowyer and Johnson and pushed by Mark Martin , settled for third.

If you cupped your ear toward Atlanta in the wee hours this morning, you almost might've heard some exuberance and maybe even some hollering. That rare entity known as the 7 a.m. party would have commenced. The kitchen staff of a tennis club in Norcross, Ga., would have arrived. And if it resembled Saturday, a throng might have yelled toward a big screen even if they couldn't see anything up there but a mostly static web page.

The Texas Rangers traded former closer Frank Francisco and cash to Toronto for catcher-first baseman Mike Napoli , Tuesday, giving the AL champions a versatile bat off the bench and the Blue Jays more bullpen depth. It was the second time in five days Napoli was traded, quickly returning to the AL West. Toronto acquired Napoli and outfielder Juan Rivera from the Angels on Friday for outfielder Vernon Wells . "It's been a crazy couple of days," Napoli said. "I know the division well and the lineup they have, the type of players they have.

Melanie Oudin was a happy girl Tuesday morning. She was announcing her newest marketing deal, with Virgin Mobile USA cellphones, and what 18-year-old doesn't like a new cellphone? And not to put any pressure on Oudin, but Virgin Mobile will donate $1 million to homeless youth organizations should Oudin win the U.S. Open in next September. That would be a pretty gigantic accomplishment for Oudin, who is content for now to be the highest-ranked American woman entered in the BNP Paribas Open, which begins with women's main draw play Wednesday and men's on Thursday.

Melanie Oudin began her magical 2009 summer of fun by making it to the fourth round of Wimbledon. She was barely 18. Then at the U.S. Open she upset four higher-seeded players and made it to the quarterfinals, giving the tournament 10 days of fun buzz. Since then, she hasn't won a major tournament match. Grass suits her, though. She took balls early Monday, punched her groundstrokes deep and with accuracy accurately and easily beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany, 6-3, 6-0. "I really like the courts here," Oudin said.

Reporting from Carlsbad — Melanie Oudin's bravado comes through when she shouts, "Come on," after a forehand winner and a fist pump in the direction of her opponent after an unexpected backhand volley. But then she has trouble hitting a first serve over the net and there is an unhappy yelp and a slap to the forehead. Oudin, 18, and a U.S. Open quarterfinalist a year ago, lost to second-seeded Samantha Stosur, 6-4, 6-4, Wednesday in the second round of the Mercury Insurance Open and once again Oudin is finding out that it's a tough world in pro tennis.

CoCo Vandeweghe's tears told her story. After Melanie Oudin started the schedule Sunday with a 6-3, 6-1 upset of the world's seventh-ranked player, Francesca Schiavone, Fed Cup rookie Vandeweghe couldn't keep the ball in the court often enough. Vandeweghe's 46 unforced errors were her undoing in a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Flavia Pennetta that gave Italy an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five format and its second consecutive Fed Cup championship. Vandeweghe cried on the court as she watched the Italians celebrate their title and she cried in the interview room.

Whether she plays or not, these Federation Cup finals between the United States and defending champion Italy that get underway here Saturday have already stamped CoCo Vandeweghe as the young American tennis player to watch. Whether the U.S. wins or loses, though, her ascension into the final lineup is already a triumph for the 18-year-old from Rancho Santa Fe. But the pressure will be intense given that the Fed Cup is the lone team competition in women's tennis, one in which, much like golf's Ryder Cup, players aim for something other than individual glory.

Melanie Oudin drew tennis fans to television. Wednesday's ESPN2 coverage of the U.S. Open quarterfinal match between the unseeded 17-year-old from Georgia and ninth-seeded Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki plus five-time defending champion Roger Federer's four-set win over Robin Soderling was the most-watched tennis telecast in ESPN2's history. Oudin captivated serious and casual tennis fans with her unlikely romp through a draw in which she had to beat four higher-ranked Russians.

CoCo Vandeweghe's tears told her story. After Melanie Oudin started the schedule Sunday with a 6-3, 6-1 upset of the world's seventh-ranked player, Francesca Schiavone, Fed Cup rookie Vandeweghe couldn't keep the ball in the court often enough. Vandeweghe's 46 unforced errors were her undoing in a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Flavia Pennetta that gave Italy an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five format and its second consecutive Fed Cup championship. Vandeweghe cried on the court as she watched the Italians celebrate their title and she cried in the interview room.

Whether she plays or not, these Federation Cup finals between the United States and defending champion Italy that get underway here Saturday have already stamped CoCo Vandeweghe as the young American tennis player to watch. Whether the U.S. wins or loses, though, her ascension into the final lineup is already a triumph for the 18-year-old from Rancho Santa Fe. But the pressure will be intense given that the Fed Cup is the lone team competition in women's tennis, one in which, much like golf's Ryder Cup, players aim for something other than individual glory.

Like a newborn, which is what he is in the world of professional tennis, Ryan Harrison was gathered up in their arms and coddled by the crowd on the Grandstand court at the U.S. Open. Hours earlier, fewer than 20% of them were likely to have heard of him. Some wandered over to the Grandstand because it is a kind of funky place to watch tennis. Others probably saw an American was playing and had the parochial response. By late afternoon Friday, they were groupies, several thousand of them, yelling and screaming and hanging from the rafters of the venerable old court, which has always appeared to be little more than an architectural afterthought, a kind of coincidental conjoined twin to Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Andy Roddick is out of the U.S. Open, and lately when Roddick is eliminated from major tournaments, it's the end of American men in the draw. But here Thursday there was 19th-seeded Mardy Fish gliding around the Louis Armstrong Stadium court using his sweet touch, able to time his volleys, willing to change the pace on his groundstrokes. Combined with a late-career decision to become supremely physically fit, the 28-year-old Fish looks rejuvenated, especially after his 7-5, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Pablo Cuevas in his second-round match.

It was only a single shot in a match that had no moments of uncertainty for five-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer. It came from deep in the back of the court, when Federer was almost running into the wall; it was born partly of desperation but also partly of confidence, a forehand hit between his legs, across the court and skipping across the sideline, a winner past helpless Brian Dabul of Argentina. The night session crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium roared and Federer offered a little bow and a sheepish smile.

It is a question that makes Venus Williams weary. Her eyes drop, her shoulders tighten. She is here at the U.S. Open, which begins Monday, a 30-year-old with the major accomplishment of having won seven Grand Slam tournaments, and she does not want to talk about the starkness of this bit of information: Williams is the only American woman among the 32 seeded players. Melanie Oudin, the bubbly teenager who giggled as she ran through the 2009 U.S. Open, shoving aside higher-ranked, harder-hitting players with no evidence of nerves until she was halted in the quarterfinals by eventual runner-up Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, has won only a single match at the three previous major tournaments this year and comes to the Open unseeded, with a ranking of 43 and a dangerous first-round match at 8 a.m. PDT Monday against a tricky veteran, Olga Savchuk.

Melanie Oudin, a 17-year-old who isn't embarrassed to admit she has a 15-year-old boyfriend, burst into tears after she upset 29th-seeded Maria Sharapova, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, Saturday in a third-round U.S. Open match. Even though Oudin took out fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva in the second round and had upset former No. 1-ranked Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon, this winning huge matches is still a big deal for Oudin. It will be a big deal if top-ranked Dinara Safina ever wins a major tournament as well.

Unseeded Yanina Wickmayer, who had never been further than the second round of a major tournament, today became the second Belgian woman in the last two days to make the U.S. Open semifinals. Wickmayer, 19 and ranked 50th in the world, blasted her way past another unlikely quarterfinalist, 52nd-ranked Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine, 7-5, 6-4, in 1 hour 40 minutes on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Earlier today there had been a minor upset on the same court. Bob and Mike Bryan, the top-seeded twins from Camarillo, lost in the men's doubles semifinals to the fourth-seeded team of Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and India's Leander Paes, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6)

Reporting from Carlsbad — Melanie Oudin's bravado comes through when she shouts, "Come on," after a forehand winner and a fist pump in the direction of her opponent after an unexpected backhand volley. But then she has trouble hitting a first serve over the net and there is an unhappy yelp and a slap to the forehead. Oudin, 18, and a U.S. Open quarterfinalist a year ago, lost to second-seeded Samantha Stosur, 6-4, 6-4, Wednesday in the second round of the Mercury Insurance Open and once again Oudin is finding out that it's a tough world in pro tennis.

Reporting from Wimbledon, England — Top-seeded and defending champion Roger Federer struggled again Wednesday at Wimbledon. Playing against a 24-year-old, pony-tailed qualifier from Serbia, Ilija Bozoljac , Federer lost a set and needed two tiebreaks to move into the third round. The final score was 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (5), but following Federer's five-set struggle to survive the first round, the six-time Wimbledon winner doesn't seem at ease on his favorite surface.