Dementieva, Jankovic dumped; Safina escapes

NEW YORK – Former finalists Elena Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic were eliminated in successive surprises in Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open on Thursday.

Blinking back tears and ignoring pain, American teenager Melanie Oudin defeated No. 4-ranked Elena Dementieva, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Then No. 5 Jelena Jankovic, lost, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), to Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in a 2-hour 40-minute match. Jankovic reached the final in 2008, but she said she wasn’t focused on this day: Her grandmother died on Wednesday.

“I was very sad and emotionally I was really not on court,” Jankovic said. “I really tried my best to be there and to try to play, but it was really hard.”

The losses by Dementieva and Jankovic mean half of the top 20 seeded women are out of the draw. No. 23 Sabine Lisicki of Germany also is gone, having left in tears as she was taken away in a wheelchair after injuring her ankle at the end of a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 defeat against Anastasia Rodionova of Australia.

No. 1 Dinara Safina nearly joined the parade of surprising exits, turning in her second poor performance of the week before hanging on to edge 67th-ranked Kristina Barrois of Germany, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3.

“Another tough day in the office,” said Safina, who double-faulted 15 times, including three in the tiebreaker. “There is no problem in the technique or nothing. Just in my head.”

No seeded men lost Thursday, when the winners included 2007 runner-up Novak Djokovic and five Americans: No. 5 Andy Roddick, No. 21 James Blake, No. 22 Sam Querrey, 55th-ranked John Isner and 276th-ranked Jesse Witten.

Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion and 2006 runner-up, beat Marc Gicquel of France, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4, at night and now takes on the 6-foot-9 Isner.

French Open runner-up Robin Soderling advanced when his opponent, Marcel Granollers, quit during the third game with a back injury.

Djokovic cruised by Australian qualifier Carsten Ball, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Also advancing were No. 8-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, No. 10 Fernando Verdasco and No. 14 Tommy Robredo of Spain, No. 15 Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic and No. 20 Tommy Haas of Germany.

On the women’s side, 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, No. 13 Nadia Petrova of Russia, No. 21 Zheng Jie of China and No. 24 Sorana Cirstea of Romania progressed. No. 19 Patty Schnyder, No. 30 Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine lost. (AP)