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 and 2008 finalist Jelena Jankovic lost 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6) to Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in a 2 hour-40 minute match.

Oudin, aged 17 and ranked 70th, played most of the third set with a heavy wrap on her left thigh, while cramps briefly reduced her to tears as she headed to the baseline to serve. The match ended with a loud shriek when she painted the backhand corner with her serve on her third match point. She set up a third round match against 2006 champion Maria Sharapova, who eliminated another 17-year-old American, Christina McHale 6-2, 6-1.

Dementieva, meanwhile, leaves Flushing Meadows with the more accomplished resume — 14 titles, 14 runner-up finishes, more than $12 million in career earnings — but still in search of her first Grand Slam title. She was the runner-up here in 2004.

After saving two match points, Shvedova closed out Jankovic in the third-set tiebreaker with her sixth ace after setting up her match point with an overhead slam to end a long rally. It was her first win over a top 10 player.

The losses of Dementieva and Jankovic mean half of the top 20 seeded women are out of the draw. No 23 Sabine Lisicki of Germany is also 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.

In other action, 2007 finalist Novak Djokovic cruised to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Australian qualifier Carsten Ball. Also

winning 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, No 20 Tommy Haas of Germany, and Americans James Blake,

Sam Querrey and Jesse Witten, a qualifier ranked 276th. French Open runner-up Robin Soderling advanced when opponent Marcel Granollers of France, quit during the third game with a back injury.

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.