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Bellis reacts after a point against Dominika Cibulkova. Darron Cummings
Teen prodigies

15-year-old CiCi Bellis becomes youngest player to win at US Open since Anna Kournikova

The US teenager defeated Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova while 17-year-old Borna Coric also claimed victory.

US TEENAGER CICI Bellis, became the youngest player to win a match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996 today.

Belis, ranked at a lowly 1,208 and aged just 15, knocked out Australian Open runner-up, Dominika Cibulkova, the 12th seed, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on the same day that five-time champions Roger Federer and Serena Williams reached the second round.

“I went into the match thinking it was going to be such a great experience, but I never thought I would come out on top winning,” said Bellis who, as an amateur, had to pass up the $60,000 prize money to avoid jeopardising a college sports career.

Borna Coric, the 17-year-old world number 204 who was junior champion in 2013, also made a stunning Grand Slam debut with a convincing 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win over 29th-seeded Czech Lukas Rosol, the man who dumped Rafael Nadal out of Wimbledon two years ago.

The upset put Coric into a second-round clash with history-making Victor Estrella Burgos, the Dominican Republic’s first Grand Slam participant who is making his US Open debut at 34.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said qualifier Coric, who arrived in New York with the goal of making it into the main draw. “I said to myself, ‘If I achieve that, that’s going to be perfect’.”

Kvitova untroubled

Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova breezed into the second round with a 6-1, 6-0 rout of French number 73 Kristina Mladenovic.

The third-seeded Czech didn’t surrender a service break in the 54-minute contest, breaking Mladenovic five times.

Canadian seventh seed Eugenie Bouchard, the Wimbledon runner-up, eased past Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-2, 6-1, slamming the brakes on her post-All England Club final slump which had brought her just one win coming into New York.

Bouchard is one of four Canadians in the main draw this year, the most since 1989 and is aiming to keep up her record of having made at least the semi-finals at all the majors in 2014.

Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, the eighth seed, eased past Alison Riske of the United States, 6-3, 6-0 in a tie which featured eight breaks of serve.

Australia’s Samantha Stosur, the 2011 champion, went through with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Lauren Davies of the United States, firmly erasing the nightmare of her 2013 first round exit to US teenager Victoria Duval.

However, another former champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 winner was dumped out 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) by New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic who won her first US Open match at the fifth time of asking.

Victoria Azarenka, the runner-up to Williams for the last two years, defeated Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-1 as the 16th seed looks to resurrect a season wrecked by a left foot injury which restricted her to one event in six months in the first half of 2014.

Two-time men’s semi-finalist David Ferrer, the Spanish fourth seed, was also a Tuesday winner, beating Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

America’s top hope in the men’s division, 13th seeded John Isner saw off compatriot Marcos Giron 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) as he bids to end the United States’ 11-year wait for a men’s Grand Slam title.

- © AFP, 2014

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