CiCi Bellis

CiCi Bellis

Bellis at the 2015 Carlsbad Classic
Full name	Catherine Cartan Bellis
Country (sports)	United States
Born	(1999-04-08) April 8, 1999 San Francisco, United States
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Prize money	$169,823
Singles
Career record	58–29
Career titles	4 ITF
Highest ranking	151 (July 25, 2016)
Current ranking	151 (July 25, 2016)
Grand Slam singles results
French Open	Q1 (2015)
US Open	2R (2014)
Doubles
Career record	15–11
Career titles	2 ITF
Highest ranking	273 (June 27, 2016)
Current ranking	273 (June 27, 2016)
Last updated on: June 27, 2016.

Catherine Cartan "CiCi" Bellis (born April 8, 1999) is an American tennis player.

Bellis has won four singles and two doubles titles on the ITF tour in her career. On July 27, 2015, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 152. On June 27, 2016, she peaked at world number 273 in the doubles rankings.

Bellis was ranked the number one junior tennis player in the world in September 2014, and was declared 2014 ITF Junior World Champion.

In August 2014, Bellis won the USTA Girls 18's National Championships, defeating Tornado Alicia Black in straight sets to secure a main draw wild card for the 2014 US Open. She was the youngest winner at 15 years, 4 months of that event since Lindsay Davenport in 1991.

On August 26, 2014, Bellis defeated that year's Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulková (ranked 13th at the time) at the 2014 US Open, becoming the youngest player to win a match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova won aged 15 in 1996. She was the youngest American to win a match at the US Open since Mary Joe Fernández in 1986, the youngest woman in the main draw of a Grand Slam since Alizé Cornet at the 2005 French Open and youngest in the main draw of the US Open since 2004. Bellis was unable to win a second match, however, losing in three sets to the 20-year-old Kazakhstani Zarina Diyas in round two.

Junior Career

CiCi had an accomplished junior career in the United States winning five National Junior Championships by age 15. In Junior international competition she is the only player to win both singles and doubles titles back to back at Teen Tennis and Les Petits As which she did in 2013. CiCi also led the US to victory in ITF World Junior Team Tennis in 2013 and Junior Fed Cup in 2014.

CiCi made her debut on the ITF Junior Circuit in November 2012, at a Grade 4 event in Columbia, South Carolina, reaching the quarter finals as a wildcard. In June 2013, she won her first junior title at the Grade 4 grass court tournament in Haverford, Pennsylvania, following it up with two more Grade 4 titles in Wichita Falls, Texas and Boca Raton, Florida later that year.

CiCi began her 2014 season at the prestigious Coffee Bowl, a Grade 1 tournament in San Jose, Costa Rica. She won the title, defeating Marie Bouzkova 6–4 6–3 in the final. In April, she amassed a further two Grade 1 titles in California, at the USTA Spring Championships in Carson and the Easter Bowl in Indian Wells. These wins brought her winning streak to 18 matches and helped her crack the top 5 in the junior rankings. During the European clay court season, CiCi reached the final of the Grade 1 event in Italy, losing to Daria Kasatkina. The following week, she beat Naiktha Bains in the final of the Trofeo Bonfiglio, a Grade A event in Milan, for the biggest title of her career. The win made her the top ranked junior in the world. At Roland Garros, CiCi lost in the third round to doubles partner Marketa Vondrousova in straight sets, but the pair reached the final of the doubles tournament, losing here in a close match. CiCi then lost in the first round of Wimbledon and the second round of the US Open. By reaching the semi finals of the Grade A Orange Bowl in Plantation, Florida in December, CiCi assured herself the year-end number 1 ranking. She was crowned ITF Junior Champion of 2014, aged just 15.

At the 2015 French Open, CiCi had her best grandslam showing, reaching the semifinals where she lost to Anna Kalinskaya 2–6 1–6.

Career

2014: Debut, US Open breakthrough and first titles

CiCi played her first ITF women's tournaments in February 2014, at back to back $25,000 events in Rancho Santa Fe, California and Surprise, Arizona. In both tournaments, she went through three qualifying rounds before losing her opening main draw match, to Sofia Arvidsson and Julia Boserup, respectively.

In March, CiCi played two $10,000 in Florida. At the first, in Gainesville, she lost in the first round. At the second, in Orlando, she won two matches to advance to the quarterfinals, where se lost to top seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich 3–6 5–7. In the doubles event, partnering Alexis Nelson, she won her first pro title, defeating Sally Peers and Natalie Pluskota in the final, 6–2 0–6 [11–9].

Following her win at the USTA U18 Nationals, CiCi was awarded a wildcard into the main draw of the US Open. On August 26, 2014, she defeated that year's Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulková (ranked 13th at the time) in the first round, becoming the youngest player to win a match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova won aged 15 in 1996. She was the youngest American to win a match at the US Open since Mary Joe Fernández in 1986, the youngest woman in the main draw of a Grand Slam since Alizé Cornet at the 2005 French Open and youngest in the main draw of the US Open since 2004. Bellis was unable to win a second match, however, losing in three sets to the 20-year-old Kazakhstani Zarina Diyas in round two.

CiCi's stellar form continued into October, when she picked up back to back ITF singles titles at two $25,000 events in South Carolina. At the first, in Rock Hill, she dropped two sets en route to the final, where she swept aside Lauren Embree 6–4 6–0. At the second, in Florence, she defeated sixth seed Ysaline Bonaventure 6–2 6–1 in the final in an equally convincing fashion. CiCi ended the year ranked 253 in the world.

ITF finals (6–1)

Singles (4–1)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $15,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (4–1) Clay (0–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	October 6, 2014	Rock Hill, United States	Hard	Lauren Embree	6–4, 6–0
Winner	2.	October 13, 2014	Florence, United States	Hard	Ysaline Bonaventure	6–2, 6–1
Winner	3.	February 23, 2015	Rancho Santa Fe, United States	Hard	Maria Sanchez	6–2, 6–0
Runner-up	1.	February 15, 2016	Surprise, United States	Hard	Jamie Loeb	6–3, 1–6, 3–6
Winner	4.	June 13, 2016	Sumter, United States	Hard	Valeria Solovyeva	6–1, 6–3

Doubles (2–0)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $15,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (1–0) Clay (1–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	March 10, 2014	Orlando, United States	Clay	Alexis Nelson	Sally Peers Natalie Pluskota	6–2, 0–6, [11–9]
Winner	2.	February 1, 2016	Midland, United States	Hard (i)	Ingrid Neel	Naomi Broady Shelby Rogers	6–2, 6–4

Grand Slam performance timeline

Singles

Tournament	2014	2015	2016	W–L
Australian Open	A	A	A	0–0
French Open	A	Q1	A	0–0
Wimbledon	A	A	A	0–0
US Open	2R	Q3	—	1–1
Win–Loss	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–1

Junior Grand Slam finals

Girls' Doubles

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2014	French Open	Clay	Markéta Vondroušová	Ioana Ducu Ioana Loredana Roșca	1–6, 7–5, [9–11]

External links

• CiCi Bellis at the Women's Tennis Association