Melanie Oudin Still Believes, Comes Back to Beat Wozniak

Melanie Oudin pulled off an incredible comeback win in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, coming back from an enormous deficit in the second set to defeat 2008 champion Aleksandra Wozniak 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-3.

Oudin trailed 1-5 in the second set, but reeled off six straight games to win the set 7-5.  She then trailed Wozniak 1-3 in the third set, but reeled off five straight games to win that set 6-3, and thereby the match.  Notice a pattern?

This is exactly the sort of way Oudin pulled off her big wins at the US Open last year.  She dropped the first set against #4 Elena Dementieva, #29 Maria Sharapova, and #13 Nadia Petrova, but thrice came back to take the second and third sets for three consecutive upset wins.

Oudin faces Victoria Azarenka in the next round, who could be described as being the type of erratic aggressive player against whom Oudin has fared so well. 

She's got a long way to go before she's back in the quarterfinals of a big tournament on American blue-green cement, but it's pretty clear that Melanie Oudin still "believes."

No word on what ever happened to those shoes.