CiCi Bellis

Bellis at the 2015 Carlsbad Classic

Bellis played her first few low-level professional events in early 2014, and won a doubles title at the $10k event in Orlando in March. She entered the 2014 US Open ranked No. 1208 with just two professional match wins in singles, both against players ranked outside the top 300. Nonetheless, she earned a wildcard into the tournament as the USTA junior national champion, making her the youngest woman in the main draw of a Grand Slam championship since Alizé Cornet at the 2005 French Open, and the youngest in the main draw of the US Open since 2004.[2] In her WTA Tour-level debut, she upset 12th seed Dominika Cibulková, who was the runner-up at the Australian Open earlier in the year. With the victory, she became the youngest player to win a match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova reached the fourth round of the 1996 US Open at age 15. Bellis was also the youngest American to win a match at the US Open since Mary Joe Fernández in 1986.[10] She was unable to win her next match, losing in three sets to 20 year old Zarina Diyas in the second round.[11]

A month after the US Open, Bellis won her first two professional titles in singles in back-to-back weeks, both in South Carolina at the $25k level. In 2015, Bellis was handed a wildcard into the main draw of the Miami Open, her first Premier Mandatory tournament. She avenged her US Open loss to Zarina Diyas in the second round, before losing to No. 1 eventual champion, Serena Williams.[12] This helped Bellis crack the top 200 of the WTA rankings for the first time. She would reach a new career-high of No. 152 in the world during the summer. Towards the end of the year, Bellis attempted to qualify for the US Open but fell one match short.

Bellis at the 2016 US Open

Bellis began the 2016 season ranked No. 248 and got off to a slow start. She did not return to the top 200 until the summer, after playing in the Stanford Classic, a Premier tournament. Bellis received a wildcard into the main draw and defeated No. 38, Jeļena Ostapenko, and compatriot Sachia Vickery, before losing to top seed Venus Williams. This was also her first WTA Tour quarterfinal. The following month, Bellis successfully qualified for the main draw of the US Open. She then improved on her result from two years earlier by reaching the third round, where she lost to the eventual champion Angelique Kerber, in straight sets. Her performance at the US Open took her to a new career-high ranking of No. 120 and helped convince her to turn professional.[5]

In her first tournament as a pro, Bellis entered the Tournoi de Québec and reached another WTA quarterfinal. Towards the end of the season, Bellis caught fire and won her final three tournaments of the year. This included two $50K titles in Canada at Saguenay and Toronto, which brought her into the top 100 for the first time. Bellis then extended her match win streak to 14 with a WTA 125 title at the Hawaii Open in Honolulu. She capped off the tournament with a win over world No. 23 Zhang Shuai in the final, the second highest ranked player she ever defeated. Bellis finished the year ranked No. 75 and the only player under 18 in the top 100.

Bellis at the 2017 French Open

Bellis was forced to skip the Australian hard-court season in January due to left leg problems with her hip and hamstring.[13] She played her first main draw of the year at the Dubai Championships, where she made her first Premier 5 quarterfinal and extended her main-draw win streak at all levels to 17 matches. In the third round, she defeated world No. 6, Agnieszka Radwańska, for her first top-ten victory before falling to Caroline Wozniacki. The upset made Bellis the youngest American to defeat a top-ten opponent since 2009.[14]

Bellis played in her first WTA Tour clay-court season and reached quarterfinals at the Rabat Grand Prix in Morocco. She made another third-round appearance at a Grand Slam tournament at the French Open and became just the third American aged 18-or-under to make it this far at the major in Paris since the turn of the century.[15] Bellis also had a strong grass-court season with her first WTA semifinal at the Mallorca Open. This success away from the hardcourts took her to No. 40 in the WTA rankings.

For the second straight year, Bellis had a great tournament at the Bank of the West Classic. She dropped just two games against No. 14 Petra Kvitová to get to the semifinals, where she lost to compatriot CoCo Vandeweghe. She played at the Rogers Cup and recorded a second top-ten victory, this time over No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova. This helped her reach a career-high of No. 35 in the world in mid-August. She then finished the season on a five match losing-streak. Nonetheless, Bellis won the WTA Newcomer of the Year award for her rankings achievement and her solid performance across all surfaces.[15]

Bellis defeated world No. 5, Karolína Plíšková, and reached the quarterfinals at the Qatar Ladies Open. Recurring wrist and elbow injuries sidelined Bellis after March. Bellis eventually had four surgeries in June, September, November and March of 2019 on her wrist, arm and elbow.[16]

Bellis returned to tennis in November 2019 at the Houston Challenger, after 18 months away from the game while she recovered from injuries.[17] She lost in the third round to the eventual champion, Kirsten Flipkens.

At the 2020 Australian Open, Bellis defeated 22nd ranked Karolína Muchová in the second round, before falling to world No. 17, Elise Mertens.[18]

Having competed her last match on the ITF Circuit in November 2020 in Charleston, she announced her retirement on Instagram on January 19th, 2022.

Bellis' match record against players who have been ranked in the top 10, former No. 1 in bold.

Bellis is currently 3–6 (33.3%) against top 10 players who were in the top 10 at the moment of the match.

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	CCB Rk
2017
1.	Agnieszka Radwańska	No. 6	Dubai Championships	Hard	3R	6–4, 4–6, 6–2	No. 70
2.	Svetlana Kuznetsova	No. 8	Canadian Open	Hard	2R	6–4, 7–5	No. 36
2018
3.	Karolína Plíšková	No. 5	Qatar Ladies Open	Hard	3R	7–6(7–4), 6–3	No. 48