American teen Oudin upsets Jankovic at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England — When 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin concluded the biggest match of her life Saturday at Wimbledon, she had trouble finding the exit on cozy Court 3.

Still learning her way around the All England Club, Oudin has made it into the fourth round. The qualifier from Marietta, Ga., pulled off the upset of the week by beating former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2.

"I was just thinking that she was any other player," Oudin said, "and this was any other match, and I was at any other tournament — not like on the biggest stage at Wimbledon. I think I handled it really well."

The sixth-seeded Jankovic struggled with the heat on a sunny, 82-degree afternoon, and took a 12-minute break after the first set. She was plagued by erratic groundstrokes, while Oudin played with poise down the stretch and swept the final three games.

Oudin gives downtrodden U.S. tennis a boost by joining the Williams sisters in the round of 16.

"Super good news," said Venus Williams, who played at the same time as Oudin and beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-4.

Oudin's so young her earliest Wimbledon memory is watching the Williams sisters on TV.

"When I was like 7, when I started playing tennis, I saw Venus and Serena Williams playing here and I was like, 'Mom, I really, really want to play there one day,'" Oudin said. "She said, 'Go for it.' My parents have always been very supportive."

One U.S. player reached the men's round of 16 — two-time runner-up Andy Roddick. He hit the last of his 33 aces on match point to beat friend Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3.

The No. 6-seeded Roddick is 22-3 in tiebreakers this year, and he improved to 9-0 against Melzer. Roddick's opponent Monday will be No. 20 Tomas Berdych, who eliminated No. 12 Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

American Jesse Levine's best run at a major event came to an end. The last qualifier in the men's draw, Levine faced 23 break points and lost to No. 19 Stanislas Wawrinka 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.

Wawrinka will next play No. 3 Andy Murray, seeking to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since 1936. He defeated No. 30 Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

Unseeded Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, reached the fourth round for the sixth year in a row by beating Philipp Petzschner 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

A few drops of rain fell late in the session, but there was no halt in play, and the new retractable roof on Centre Court wasn't needed for a sixth consecutive day.