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East Cobb native Melanie Oudin has only been a professional tennis player for eight months and she's about to face one of the game's greatest legends.

She gladly accepted an invitation from Octagon Tennis to take part in the Advanta WTT Smash Hits charity tennis event Sunday afternoon at the Kennesaw State Convocation Center and was told she will be playing doubles with Martina Navratilova.

Things changed, though, when 1998 Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna was unable to attend the event.

Now, Oudin will take Novotna's place in singles and will play a set against the 18-time Grand Slam champion in front of her hometown crowd.

"I'm pretty excited about that," Oudin, the top-ranked junior in the United States and No. 2 in the world, said. "Playing with her is amazing, but playing against her, wow, we'll see how it goes."

Oudin, who won three International Tennis Federation junior tournaments in 2007 before turning professional, is taking part in an event that benefits the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund.

Oudin will be part of a Who's Who of talent Sunday, joining part-time Atlanta resident John, Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Andy Roddick and Anna Kournakova. Festivities will begin at 1 p.m. with a Battle of the Sexes match that will pit the team of John and Roddick against Navratilova and Kournikova.

The time of Oudin's match with Navratilova has yet to be determined.

This will be Oudin's second exhibition after playing her first against Ashley Harkleroad, another Georgia native on the rise in the tennis ranks, last December in Duluth.

She said playing Harkelford in her first exhibition was good public relations experience for her and is looking forward to playing her second much closer to home.

"Exhibitions are fun. You get to entertain a crowd," Oudin said. "Matches are just straight-up business. Here, you get to show your personality, smile, stuff like that."

The 17-year-old Oudin won her first professional match March 13 at the Pacific Life Open against Estonia's Maret Ani. She went on to make the quarterfinals of the French Open junior tournament and the semifinals of the U.S. Open juniors and qualified for the main draw of the U.S. Open for the first time, falling in the first round to Australia's Jessica Moore in two tiebreakers.

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