BELLIS-IMA
Catherine Bellis — CiCi to her friends, a group growing exponentially with each win — clapped her racket to the adoring crowd and bounded up and down with unbridled joy, blonde ponytail bouncing.
And why not? The California teen had made it to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, coming from behind to upset French Open quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 Wednesday in front of a Grandstand crowd that included her own personal cheering section.
“It makes me play better, when I get them involved,’’ Bellis said of the crowd. “It was the turning point of the match when I started winning a couple points, started stringing a few together, got them involved. That just kept pumping me up even more and made me play better.”
Bellis had been the Belle of the Ball at the U.S. Open two years ago, the youngest player to win a match here since 1996 and youngest American since a decade before that. Even now just 17, she has garnered her own teenage fanboy-filled cheering section, one that followed her all the way through her qualifiers.
“They came out to firstround qualifying and have been to every single one of my matches since. One of them messaged me on Instagram and asked for tickets, so I got them into my box. … They call themselves Team CiCi. It was fun,’’ Bellis said. “They’re from Rhode Island. I read that in one of their Instagram bios. I don’t know much about them.”
The tennis world — and perhaps soon the marketing world — will know about Bellis. Ostensibly headed to Stanford, although she said that will be evaluated after the U.S. Open, she feeds off the crowd and the crowd clearly loves her, even against a fellow American. Bellis said it inspires her.
“It puts me in like a different world. I feel like I’m not even here when I hear peo- ple like that group we were talking about. It’s surreal to me. But it’s so amazing. I think it’s a little bit of both,’’ said Bellis, who, with her next match coming against No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber, could make her Arthur Ashe debut. “I think it would just be even better for me, more fun for me.”
Bellis had lost to Rogers, now ranked 49th, at Indian Harbour Beach in May. That match, however, was on Rogers’ preferred clay, while Wednesday night’s rematch was on a hard court surface. That, some smarter play by Bellis and some right arm woes for Rogers, sealed the victory.
“CiCi played great. She was definitely more aggressive than I was, and she deserves to be in the next round,’’ said Rogers, who got treatment on her arm during the second set. “She has no pressure, she’s swinging for the fences, she genuinely loves the sport, she has a blast when she’s out there and she has no fear. She’s got a bright future ahead of her and I hope she does well.”
Bellis plays Australian Open champ Kerber, who saved three set points to gut out a 6-2, 7-6 (7) win over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.