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606: DEBATE
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By Chris Bevan
**1713: **That Oudin-Petrova game will begin at around 1730 BST, so still time for them to get stuck into that cake if they fancy it. Back on Louis Armstrong, the second set between Soderling (seeded 12th) and Davydenko (seeded eighth) is going with serve and the Swede leads 3-2.
1710: Oudin wears garish pink-and-custard trainers with ‘Believe’ written on them, to reflect her positive attitude. I’ll post a picture of them later… (I am tempted to write ‘Give Up’ on one of my tennis trainers and ‘Go Home’ on the other to reflect my less positive outlook). The teenager was presented with a cake with ‘Believe’ written on it at a photo-shoot yesterday - I don’t think we’ll see that on court today though… if we do, the women’s game is really in trouble.1704: Arthur Ashe Stadium is filling up now, and for good reason. Seventeen-year-old Melanie Oudin, the new big hope of American tennis is on next, against 13th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia. If the women’s game needs a lift, then this girl could provide it.
**From James in Southampton, via text on 81111: **“I went the whole of the first week wondering why Lance Armstrong had a tennis stadium named after him. Just realised I misread it.”
1658: Times correspondent Neil Harman on Gisela Dulko on 5 Live Sports Extra: “That was quite a shameful performance by Gisela Dulko, especially in the fourth round of a Grand Slam. It was one of those days she will just wish to forget but it was an embarrassment for women’s tennis.”
1656: A blistering Bondarenko forehand flies down the line… and in. It’s all over, and, sadly for Dulko it is double-bagel time for her in just 47 minutes. Oh dear.1654: It looked like we were heading for a tie-break on Armstong but Soderling had other ideas. He continued attacking the Davydenko serve and has got his reward, snatching the first set 7-5.1651: Dulko, to her credit, has not just given up and manages to claw her way to break point. I’m about to bring out the champagne graphic for her but, predictably, it all goes horribly wrong. She puts a backhand in the net and Bondarenko ends up holding thanks to an ace - She leads 6-0 5-0.
1649: Times correspondent Neil Harman on Gisela Dulko on 5 Live Sports Extra: “This is the worst performance I have seen at this year’s US Open.”
1647: Dulko has now made 20 unforced errors and has just been broken again to trail 6-0 4-0 in just 39 minutes. Not surprisingly, she has started taking it out on her racquet. The only consolation for the Argentine is that there are not many people in Arthur Ashe Stadium to watch this. 1641: Things briefly look better for Dulko. I did say briefly. The Argentine leads 40-0 and looks like she is finally going to get on the board. Four tame shots later, she is facing another break-point instead. A rare mistake by the Ukrainian lets Dulko back to deuce but it is only a temporary respite - Bondarenko attacks again and two big backhands give her her eighth straight game, she leads 6-0 2-0.1636: Soderling is fighting back on Louis Armstrong and a scorching forehand winner into the corner gives him his second break-point at 3-4. He repeats the trick on the next point, into the opposite corner this time, with Davydenko again unable to get near it. We are all-square in the first set at 4-4.
1634: Times correspondent Neil Harman on 5 Live Sports Extra: “Bondarenko has barely been troubled. It’s rather pathetic that a player of Gisela Dulko’s talent should lose the first set while hardly hitting a decent shot.”
1632: It’s taken only 22 minutes and the first set is in the bag for Kateryna Bondareno - she got her bagel too. Melanie Oudin is next up on Ashe, against Nadia Petrova - I hope they are warming up…1629: Davydenko, a semi-finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2006 and 2007 when he lost to Fed on both occasions, is still a break up against Soderling, leading 4-2 in the first set. Back on Ashe, and Bondarenko’s first ace of the match has just put her 5-0 up.1625: Er, it looks like Kateryna wants revenge for Alona’s defeat (1613), and she is closing in a bagel of her own. Dulko is really struggling to get any sort of first serve - she has only managed three in two games - and a double-fault compounds her misery. Bondarenko leads 4-0. 1622: Near a radio Good. You can listen to commentary of the Bondarenko-Dulko match on BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra right now. But not online I’m afraid. Sorry about that.1620: Bondarenko is wearing a huge strapping on her left leg but it doesn’t seem to be restricting her too much - she is continuing to attack at every opportunity and has just saved a break-back point from Dulko and holds to lead 3-0.1617: Davydenko has also made a decent start over on Armstrong… he broke Robin Soderling in his first service game and the eighth seed now leads 3-1.1613: Gisela Dulko has already beaten one of the Bondarenko sisters at Flushing Meadows this year, thumping Kateryna’s elder sister Alona 6-4 6-0 in the second round. Kateryna seems to be faring rather better so far - she leads 2-0 after breaking Dulko when she hammers a backhand long.1607: Plenty going on today, with Roger Federer continuing his quest for a sixth-successive title and rising American star Melanie Oudin up against Nadia Petrova. Firstly, though, we’ve got Gisela Dulko against Kateryna Bondarenko on Arthur Ashe Stadium and Robin Soderling’s match with Nikolay Davydenko on Louis Armstrong.**1602 BST: ** So, are you ready for the second week of the 2009 US Open I hope so, it’s about to get started…