Melanie Oudin

About 2 ½ years after her captivating run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals, Melanie Oudin of Marietta, Ga., has earned a wild card into the French Open. The U.S. Tennis Association says Sunday the 20-year-old Oudin got the berth at Roland Garros based on results at USTA Pro Circuit clay-court tournaments at Dothan, Ala., Charlottesville, Va., and Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. She won the title at Charlottesville and reached the second round at the others. As an unseeded teen at the 2009 U.S. Open, wearing shoes with "Believe" stamped on the side, Oudin beat Maria Sharapova and two...

About 2 ½ years after her captivating run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals, Melanie Oudin of Marietta, Ga., has earned a wild card into the French Open. The U.S. Tennis Association says Sunday the 20-year-old Oudin got the berth at Roland Garros based on results at USTA Pro Circuit clay-court tournaments at Dothan, Ala., Charlottesville, Va., and Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. She won the title at Charlottesville and reached the second round at the others. As an unseeded teen at the 2009 U.S. Open, wearing shoes with "Believe" stamped on the side, Oudin beat Maria Sharapova and two...

REGGIO CALABRIA, Italy - Flavia Pennetta can settle her score with American Alexa Glatch in the opening match of the Fed Cup final. Italy meets the United States on a slow, red clay court in the best-of-five series beginning today at the Rocco Polimeni club. Glatch routed Pennetta, 6-1, 6-1, in the opening round of the French Open. That’s been the only blemish on a career year for Pennetta, who won back-to-back titles in Palermo, Sicily, and Los Angeles en route to becoming the first female Italian player to reach the top 10 in August.

NEW YORK — The scene was simply scary: Victoria Azarenka, a 21-year-old on the rise in the WTA rankings, paused about a half-hour into her second-round match yesterday at the US Open, then staggered, stumbled, and collapsed to the court. Azarenka, seeded 10th, rolled over to rest her head on her arm, and a trainer rushed over. Someone covered Azarenka’s legs with a towel. She eventually was helped into a wheelchair, her visor askew atop her head, then taken to a hospital, where tests showed she had a mild concussion.

LONDON - It seemed fitting, somehow, that two-time major champion Marat Safin’s always-turbulent relationship with Wimbledon would end this way. A first-round departure. Against the unheralded Jesse Levine, a 133d-ranked qualifier from Boca Raton, Fla., who began yesterday with an 0-2 tour-level record in 2009. And with a mangled racket and plenty of kicking and screaming, including a couple of arguments with the chair umpire, then a postmatch parting shot at a line judge Safin called “a little bit too blind.’’ Safin used to rant about disliking tennis on grass, and he once complained...

WIMBLEDON, England - Venus Williams ambled onto sun-splashed Court 1 at Wimbledon yesterday, a slight hitch in her step and an odd-looking wrap around her left knee. White tape here, brown tape there. Good thing the five-time Wimbledon champion didn’t need to run to hit serves. Powered in part by her big-as-can-be deliveries, Williams overwhelmed 73d-ranked Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine, 6-3, 6-2, in the second round to stretch her All England Club winning streak to 16 matches.

WIMBLEDON, England - As a tyke growing up in Marietta, Ga., Melanie Oudin would watch Venus and Serena Williams on TV and tell anyone who would listen that she was going to play at Wimbledon, too, one day. Who knew she’d be right? And do so well, so quickly? Making her Wimbledon debut at age 17 after getting through qualifying, the 124th-ranked Oudin joined the Williams sisters in the fourth round at the All England Club by beating former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, 6-7 (8-10)

NEW YORK — The scene was simply scary: Victoria Azarenka, a 21-year-old on the rise in the WTA rankings, paused about a half-hour into her second-round match yesterday at the US Open, then staggered, stumbled, and collapsed to the court. Azarenka, seeded 10th, rolled over to rest her head on her arm, and a trainer rushed over. Someone covered Azarenka’s legs with a towel. She eventually was helped into a wheelchair, her visor askew atop her head, then taken to a hospital, where tests showed she had a mild concussion.

Brian Baker of Nashville, Tenn., has earned a wild card into the French Open from the U.S. Tennis Association. The USTA awarded the main-draw berth Monday, Baker's 27th birthday, based on results at clay-court Challenger events in Sarasota, Fla., and Savannah, Ga. He won the title at Savannah and reached the second round in Sarasota. Baker reached the second round of the 2005 U.S. Open, but then was off the tour for years because of a series of operations, including reconstructive elbow surgery in 2008.

No. 16 seed Polona Hercog needed more than two hours before defeating qualifier Natalie Grandin, 7-6 (1), 2-6, 6-4 in a first-round match at the Mercury Insurance Open on Monday. Only two seeded players saw action in a tournament hit hard by injuries. No. 2-ranked Kim Clijsters of Belgium, who skipped Wimbledon because of an ankle injury, pulled out with the same injury. Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic withdrew because of a pulled abdominal muscle. A groin injury knocked out two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.

REGGIO CALABRIA, Italy - Flavia Pennetta can settle her score with American Alexa Glatch in the opening match of the Fed Cup final. Italy meets the United States on a slow, red clay court in the best-of-five series beginning today at the Rocco Polimeni club. Glatch routed Pennetta, 6-1, 6-1, in the opening round of the French Open. That’s been the only blemish on a career year for Pennetta, who won back-to-back titles in Palermo, Sicily, and Los Angeles en route to becoming the first female Italian player to reach the top 10 in August.

WIMBLEDON, England - As a tyke growing up in Marietta, Ga., Melanie Oudin would watch Venus and Serena Williams on TV and tell anyone who would listen that she was going to play at Wimbledon, too, one day. Who knew she’d be right? And do so well, so quickly? Making her Wimbledon debut at age 17 after getting through qualifying, the 124th-ranked Oudin joined the Williams sisters in the fourth round at the All England Club by beating former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, 6-7 (8-10)

WIMBLEDON, England - Venus Williams ambled onto sun-splashed Court 1 at Wimbledon yesterday, a slight hitch in her step and an odd-looking wrap around her left knee. White tape here, brown tape there. Good thing the five-time Wimbledon champion didn’t need to run to hit serves. Powered in part by her big-as-can-be deliveries, Williams overwhelmed 73d-ranked Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine, 6-3, 6-2, in the second round to stretch her All England Club winning streak to 16 matches.

LONDON - It seemed fitting, somehow, that two-time major champion Marat Safin’s always-turbulent relationship with Wimbledon would end this way. A first-round departure. Against the unheralded Jesse Levine, a 133d-ranked qualifier from Boca Raton, Fla., who began yesterday with an 0-2 tour-level record in 2009. And with a mangled racket and plenty of kicking and screaming, including a couple of arguments with the chair umpire, then a postmatch parting shot at a line judge Safin called “a little bit too blind.’’ Safin used to rant about disliking tennis...

► Today is Friday, Sept. 23, the 266th day of 2011. There are 99 days left in the year. Autumn arrives at 5:04 a.m. ► Today's birthdays: Actor Mickey Rooney is 91. Actress Margaret Pellegrini ("The Wizard of Oz") is 88. Singer Julio Iglesias is 68. Actor Paul Petersen ("The Donna Reed Show") is 66. Actress-singer Mary Kay Place is 64. Rock star Bruce Springsteen is 62. Rock musician Leon Taylor (The Ventures) is 56. Actress Rosalind Chao is 54. Golfer Larry Mize is 53. Actor Jason Alexander is 52. Actress Elizabeth Pena is 52. Actor Chi McBride is 50. Country musician Don Herron (BR549)

WORCESTER - After a breakout year in 2011, rising star Christina McHale still isn't entirely comfortable with her burgeoning status as the next big thing among American tennis players. However, the 19-year-old will be under the spotlight this weekend, scheduled for today and tomorrow at the DCU Center as the United States faces Belarus in the Fed Cup group stages. In yesterday's draw ceremony at Mechanics Hall, Worcester city manager Michael O'Brien pulled the name of Victoria Azarenka - the new Australian Open champion and new world No. 1 - out of a bowl of tennis balls, pitting her against McHale...