NEW YORK -- On a day that began with more fussing about the plight of American men at the U.S. Open, 15-year-old Catherine Bellis gave the American fans a shot of adrenaline Tuesday with an upset victory that electrified her little corner of the National Tennis Center.
Bellis, playing on the relatively obscure confines of Court 6, upended No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, becoming the youngest girl to win a match at the U.S. Open since 1996.
As her upset materialized, fans flocked to the little side court and ESPN turned its cameras her way. The attention seemed to give her more energy, as she pumped her fist on nearly every winning point and bounced around the court like, well, a 15-year-old.
"It's unbelievable," Bellis said after the match. "The atmosphere here was incredible, with all of these people coming over here to support me."
Bellis, who is known as Cici, became the story of a day that already saw 17-year-old Borna Coric of Croatia, the junior champion here last year, toppling No. 29 Lukas Rosol in the men's draw. But as young as Coric is, Bellis did him one better.
She had earned her wild card into the tournament by being the youngest girl to win the girls' 18s national championships since Lindsay Davenport won as a 15-year-old in 1991. The last 15-year-old to win a match at the U.S. Open was Anna Kournikova in 1996. Bellis was not even born until 1999.
Cibulkova is in the midst of a terrible summer -- winning only one of four matches on hard courts -- but she was still an unlikely candidate to be upended by a teenager. She was playing well enough earlier this year to reach the final of the Australian Open.
But Bellis, who is from outside San Francisco, played with all the spunk befitting her age, as well as with an array of shots impressive not just in their power but in their variety. Bellis painted the lines with her forehand and backhand, and did not wilt every time Cibulkova made a move to put her away.
Cibulkova went up a break early in the third set, but Bellis crafted a break of her own to tie the set at 3-3. She won two service games at love and pounded two more winners to win on a final break of Cibulkova's serve.
Before Bellis' victory, the day was revolving around American men, whose fate in the U.S. Open has been a bruising one in recent years, and the job of restoring it was falling again on the shoulders of John Isner and Sam Querrey.
For a day, both played their part in helping the U.S. tennis establishment exhale. Isner served his way out of his first-round match in Arthur Ashe Stadium, a 7-6 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory over Marcos Giron, the NCAA singles champion from UCLA.
Querrey, as he often does, did things the hard way next door in Louis Armstrong Stadium, ousting Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina in five sets, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, in 2 hours 53 minutes.
U.S. men's hopes took a blow when Jack Sock retired with a calf injury after three sets of his match against Pablo Andujar of Spain. Sock, who has lifted his ranking to No. 55, has produced his career highlight so far in doubles, winning the Wimbledon title with Vasek Pospisil. In singles, he reached the third round at the U.S. Open the past two years.
Noah Rubin, an 18-year-old from Long Island who won the Wimbledon junior title last month, lost in his U.S. Open debut, 6-4, 6-3, 6-0, to Federico Delbonis.
Before Bellis' upset, most of the women's matches went according to form.
No. 3 Petra Kvitova, the Wimbledon champion last month, cruised past Kristina Mladenovic, 6-1, 6-0, in 54 minutes. No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard, who has struggled on hardcourts since losing to Kvitova in the Wimbledon final, routed Olga Govortsova, 6-2, 6-1. No. 8 Ana Ivanovic drew the first match of the day on Ashe Stadium and beat Alison Riske, 6-3, 6-0. And over on the Grandstand court, the 2011 champion Sam Stosur ousted another young American, Lauren Davis, 6-1, 6-4.
Sports on 08/27/2014