Little-known Oudin a big threat

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:37

The 17-year-old qualifier, who is ranked 124th in the world, beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in the previous round after knocking out 29th seed Sybille Bammer, of Austria, on her Wimbledon debut.

Oudin defeated Argentina’s Betina Jozami on a memorable Fed Cup debut earlier this year, much to the admiration of compatriot Venus Williams. “I’ve played with her in Fed Cup and she’s a really pleasant girl,” said Venus. “She is very hard working and determined.”

Victory over Jankovic today would take her another step towards a potential quarter-final with the older Williams sister, who has already become aware of an exciting talent. Williams added: “She has a lot of talent and played great in the first Fed Cup tie.”

Venus, meanwhile, will be expected to join sister Serena in the last 16 when she takes on 20-year-old Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, who she beat in three sets at this year’s Australian Open, in the first match on Centre Court.

Elsewhere, top seed and world number one Dinara Safina plays good friend Kirsten Flipkens, the Belgian number two, for the first time, hoping to reach the second week of Wimbledon for the first time.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, the fifth seed, will be expected to become the fourth Russian to reach the fourth round when she meets unseeded German Sabine Lisicki for the first time in the second match on Court One.

Yesterday, three more seeds fell by the wayside in a bottom half of the draw increasingly dominated by two-time champion Serena Williams.

Eleventh seed Marion Bartoli, the runner-up in 2007, lost 7-6 6-0 to Italian Francesca Schiavone, 29, who had never previously been past the third round in eight attempts.

Russia’s Elena Vesnina beat Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, the 14th seed, while seventh seed Vera Zvonareva withdrew with an ankle injury, handing France’s Virginie Razzano a walkover into Monday’s fourth round.

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