NEW YORK: CiCi Bellis, the first 15-year-old since 1996 to win a U.S. Open match, could not follow that up with another victory, losing in the second round Thursday night.
Bellis, a Californian who is ranked 1,208th and playing in her first tour-level event, won seven games in a row during one stretch but wound up getting beaten 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 by 48th-ranked Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan.
Diyas is only 20 years old, but that makes her a veteran by comparison. This was her 10th Grand Slam match, including a fourth-round run at Wimbledon.
Bellis earned a wild-card invitation from the U.S. Tennis Association by winning the USTA Girls' 18s National Championship, the youngest to do since Lindsay Davenport also won it at 15 in 1991.
