The day after the sensation of last year’s US Open departed quietly, another 18-year-old American made her way unexpectedly to the third round.
Capra, a wild-card entry ranked 371st, upset 18th-seeded Aravane Rezai of France 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 on Thursday to keep her Grand Slam debut on track.
Capra, who trains at the Evert Academy in Delray Beach, Florida, is the youngest player left in the women’s field and the lowest-ranked.
She’s playing in her first tour-level main draw, and knocked off 95th-ranked Karolina Sprem in the first round. Next up could be a matchup against Maria Sharapova, who was one of Oudin’s victims last year when, at age 17, Oudin made an attention-grabbing run to the quarterfinals.
Ever since last year’s magical run at Flushing Meadows, Oudin has been on a more even-keeled learning curve — ranked 43rd in the world and with only one victory in the first three Grand Slam tournaments of 2010.
She came back to New York this year wondering if something about this city and this tournament might inspire another run. She left Wednesday after a disheartening 6-2, 7-5 loss to No. 29 Alona Bondarenko and the sinking realization that even in the Big Apple, encores can be hard to come by.
“I guess I’m a little tiny bit relieved now,” Oudin said. “I can kind of start over from all the expectations from last year. And now I can just go out and hopefully do really well the rest of the year and keep working hard.”
Other winners in early action Thursday included 19th-seeded Mardy Fish, who defeated Pablo Cuevas 7-5, 6-0, 6-2. Fish, along with No. 18 John Isner and No. 20 Sam Querrey, are America’s best hopes after No. 9 Andy Roddick fell late Wednesday night to Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic.
Tipsarevic used his big groundstrokes and 66 winners to quiet the crowd of nearly 23,000 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4) win.
“He played very high-risk and executed for four sets,” Roddick said. “I kept telling myself, ‘You know, this has to have an expiration date on it.’ Unfortunately, I needed another set for that.”
Scheduled to play later Thursday were top-seeded woman Caroline Wozniacki and Roger Federer, who is trying to win his sixth US Open title. Sharapova and third-seeded Novak Djokovic headline the night sessions.
“He played very high-risk and executed for four sets,” said the ninth-seeded Roddick, whose exit leaves Roger Federer as the only past champion in the men’s field. “I kept telling myself, ‘You know, this has to have an expiration date on it.’ Unfortunately, I needed another set for that.”
Already trailing 5-2 in the third, Roddick wound up in an argument over a foot-fault call on a first serve. He turned to the official and asked, “What foot?”
When she told him it was his right foot, he replied, “That’s impossible.” Roddick then turned to chair umpire Enric Molina and, pointing first to his right foot, then his left, asked, “Has THIS foot gone in front of THAT foot ever in my career?”
Molina replied: “Not in my matches.”
A TV replay showed Roddick did commit a foot fault — but with his left toes. And what really bothered Roddick, he said afterward, was that the official would not acknowledge that she was mistaken when she blamed his right foot for the ruling.
“I was just stupefied,” he said.
Indeed, asked later what might have happened if the lineswoman said the call was made because his left sneaker was on the baseline, he replied: “There would have been no discussion.”
But Roddick did berate the lineswoman — although without the threatening or colorful language that Serena Williams used when she launched a tirade at a line judge over a foot call at the end of her semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters in last year’s semifinals.
“Not once in my entire career does my right foot go in front of my left foot,” Roddick said. “Not once. Ever.”
He missed his second serve for a double-fault, then continued to harangue the official, at one point jokingly making a reference to “1-800-Rent-a-Ref.”
“In hindsight, did I let it go too far?” Roddick said at his news conference, repeating a reporter’s question. “Probably.”
