Fifteen Year Old Bellis Knocks Off 12th-seeded Cibulkova
CiCi Bellis stole the show at the US Open on Tuesday as the 15-year old from California defeated 12th seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the tournament’s first round. In doing so, Bellis became the youngest player to win a match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996, three years before Bellis was even born.
“Believing was the number one thing that I had to do today,” said Bellis. “That’s what my coach told me before the match also: Just go out there and believe that you can win.”
She did just that and came out firing as she cruised in the opening frame 6-1. The Australian Open runner up would bounce back in the second set, however, and force a deciding third set.
As more and more people began to navigate toward Court Six, Bellis continued to thrive under the pressure. She fell behind 1-3 in the final set, but broke back twice to jump ahead 4-3 before eventually closing it out with another service break.
Overall, she broke Cibulkova’s serve six times throughout the match, and seemed to be playing with much more energy than her seeded opponent.
“I went into the match thinking it was going to be such a great experience, but I never thought I would come out on top,” said Bellis. “I feel amazing. I’m still speechless and am in shock about that match. I went in thinking I was going to play as well as I could possibly play. I obviously played pretty well. So I’m really happy.”
Bellis earned a spot in the US Open’s Main Draw thanks to her victory at the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championship where she became the youngest winner since Lindsey Davenport won it at 15 back in 1991.
The teenager from California is still young enough to play in junior tournaments, and plans to do so following the US Open. Because Bellis is still an amateur, she is ineligible to collect or see any of the at least $60,420 that her victory is worth in US Open prize money. For now though, she is focusing on her second-round opponent in Flushing Meadows, Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas who rolled over qualifier Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-2.
Also advancing on Tuesday was top-seeded Serena Williams, who cruised past fellow American Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-1 to push into the second round. Townsend, an 18-year old from Chicago, admitted that she was in a little bit of awe playing one of her tennis idols.
“It was just a lot of different emotions and feelings that were coming. It was hard to deal with,” said Townsend. “She’s an African-American woman from Compton, California, who has won 17 or 16 Grand Slam titles. Like, who would have thought? Anything is possible. She’s paved the way for me and not only African-American girls but girls in general, people in general.”
The top-ranked Williams has no fared well in Grand Slams so far this year, failing to make it out of the fourth round of each of the first three major tournaments. She says she plans on making no major adjustments here in Queens except to remain positive and focus on the task at hand.
“I’ve decided I’m not going to over think it. I think I’ve over thought every Grand Slam so far this year. It didn’t really work out great for me,” said Williams. “So worst-case scenario, I’m just going to stay positive and do the best I can. That’s all I can do.”
Williams moves on to face another American, Vania King, after King knocked off Italian Francesca Schiavone in their first-round match.
Wimbledon champion and third-seeded Petra Kvitova also won on Tuesday, disposing of Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 6-0. She will play fellow Czech Petra Cetkovska in the next round.
