Melanie Oudin's success at the U.S. Open appears to have taken even her sponsor, Adidas, by surprise. The unheralded young American, who has reached the quarterfinals by defeating three highly ranked Russians in a row, has been getting extra attention for her funky yellow-and-pink Adidas sneakers, which she customized herself at the Mi Adidas site. It's a marketer's dream—she even put the word "Believe" on the shoe, where lesser mortals would have just put their name. But Adidas doesn't seem to be doing much to capitalize. The Mi Adidas homepage still shows Sam Querrey, the other young American whom Adidas invited to wear customized shoes for this Open. He lost on Saturday. (Oudin does front the women's section of the site, and the yellow-and-pink model is the default, so that's a start.) Meanwhile, over at the main Adidas Tennis site, there's no sign of Oudin at all. The focus there is on Ana Ivanovic, Dinara Safina and Caroline Wozniacki. Ivanovic and Safina both crashed out of the tournament already. Wozniacki, from Denmark, will play Oudin in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, and will be public enemy No. 1 for a day in New York. Sure, Oudin's success could be fleeting—all the more reason to move quickly. Adidas needs to step it up, or someone else might swoop in. As you can see below, it's awfully easy to whip up a quick Nike ad. UPDATE: An Adidas rep e-mailed. She says the Mi Adidas site was "in the process of being updated as you were posting." And indeed, Oudin is now on the homepage.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

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Yesterday's stars never die in U.S. Open ads