CiCi Bellis ousted in semifinals at Stanford
As the Stanford tournament moved on without her, CiCi Bellis chose the response of someone twice her age: perspective.
She’d been overwhelmed 6-3 6-1 by CoCo Vandeweghe in Saturday’s afternoon semifinal, but there were no tears or excuses from the 18-year-old Bellis, who reached this stage of a WTA tour event for the first time.
“This was definitely a great week for me,” said Bellis, who grew up in Atherton and remembers serving this tournament as a ballgirl. “One of the best weeks of my career so far. This whole summer’s been great for me. I don’t know if it’s always gonna go this well, but I’ve been lucky so far. I just want to keep building on this.”
Bellis leaves on Sunday morning for her next tour stop, Toronto, and won’t be able to catch the final, but it should be an afternoon treat (2 p.m.) for those in attendance and an ESPN2 audience. Madison Keys knocked off Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-2 in the evening semifinal, setting up a significant match in the hierarchy of American women’s tennis.
The Williams sisters rank so far above the rest, it’s difficult to remember the last time another American woman won a Grand Slam event (it was Jennifer Capriati, at the 2002 Australian Open). Contenders come and go, never with the kind of sustained performance that suggests a future champion. Perhaps there is little change in store, but at the moment, Vandeweghe (No. 24 in the world) and Keys (No. 21) are definitely the two most respected up-andcoming U.S. women.
No one is quite certain what gets into Muguruza at the majors, but the spectacle can be wondrous — she also won last year’s French Open, defeating Serena Williams — and very much for real. On the regular tour, not so much. Muguruza struggles with her motivation and consistency, and she never found her rhythm against Keys, who had a 3-17 lifetime record against top-5 players (Muguruza ranks fourth) heading into the match.
Keys couldn’t stop smiling as she addressed the crowd afterward, and most everyone knew why. She injured her left wrist at the 2015 Stanford tournament, spent months trying to fight through the pain, finally had surgery after the 2016 year-end championships, and needed an arthroscopic procedure after this year’s French Open. Called “the future of American tennis” by the great Chris Evert several years ago, she’s still just 22 and savoring her renewed good health.
Bellis was coming off a dominant quarterfinal performance against a big hitter, Petra Kvitova, but facing Vandeweghe posed a different challenge. “It was pretty tough,” Bellis conceded. “She’s got a great serve, and it was on, and she’s just playing really well overall.”
It was easy to see how Vandeweghe has enjoyed such a big year, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. She defines “easy power” as well as anyone in tennis. It’s evident even in warm-ups, when she loosens up the forehand, and she absolutely crushes her well-disguised groundstrokes when properly set.
Bellis got only 56 percent of her first serves in, allowing the 6-foot-1 Vandeweghe to jump all over the second serves coming in around 70-80 mph. Meanwhile, Vandeweghe was blasting first serves up to 122 mph and delivering aces at all the right times.
“Her serve comes in so fast, you have to kind of guess where it’s coming,” said Bellis. “She overpowered me a lot today. I still need to get a bit stronger, and I think my serve needs to improve a lot. Those are the two main things I want to work on.”
There was a bit of suspense in the first set when Bellis, trailing 2-1, had a break point at 30-40. She got a second serve from Vandeweghe and loaded up for a huge forehand, but sailed it long. Vandeweghe rallied to clinch that game with an ace, then broke Bellis’ serve for a 4-1 lead — a game that ended when Bellis tried a backhand drop shot but missed wide.
Bellis did manage to break serve — a first for Vandeweghe in the tournament — for 5-3, nailing it down with a crosscourt backhand winner, but Vandeweghe broke right back, taking advantage of a doublefault (at 15-30) and wrapping it up with a big cross-court forehand.
Vandeweghe is playing Stanford for the sixth time and has carried fond memories of the event since reaching the 2012 final, losing 7-5 6-3 to Serena. “I was ranked outside the top 100 and had to play the qualifying, and I lost there in the last round,” she said. “I’d never gotten a ‘lucky loser’ spot, but I was told I had a good chance to get in (through a player’s withdrawal), and I did. Things really fell into place, all the way to the final.
“So there I was, serving for the first set against Serena, and I double-faulted on my only set point. Things kinda went quickly for her after that.”
Five years later, with a tour veteran’s wisdom, Vandeweghe finds few betting against her. Count CiCi Bellis among the convinced.