RICKY DIMON LOOKS @ AMERICAN WOMEN SOARING @ 2014 U.S. OPEN WITH SERENA VS. TAYLOR STILL TO PLAY

Written by: Staff on 26th August 2014

RICKY DIMON LOOKS @ AMERICAN WOMEN SOARING @ 2014 U.S. OPEN WITH SERENA VS. TAYLOR STILL TO PLAY

epa04358611 Serena Williams of the United States returns a shot to Ana Ivanovic of Serbia during the final match of the Western and Southern tennis tournament at the Lindner Tennis Center in Mason Ohio, USA, 17 August 2014. EPA/MARK LYONS |

American women are off to a hot start at the U.S. Open, and a child is leading them. CiCi Bellis, all of 15 years old, upset No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 during first-round action on Tuesday afternoon. Bellis got a wild card into the main draw by winning the girls’ 18s national championship.

“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,” Bellis admitted. “I’m feeling amazing. I’m still speechless. I’m still in shock about that match. I went in thinking I was going to play as well as I could possibly play. I obviously played pretty well, so I’m really happy.

“Believing was the number one thing that I had to do today. That’s what my coach told me before the match also. Just go out there and believe that you can win. I mean, if you play well, you can if you believe in it. If you don’t believe, there’s one option. If you do believe, there’s two options. You can either believe and lose or believe and win, but if you don’t believe you’re going to lose anyway.”

When asked about the lure of $60,000 in second-round prize money to turn professional, Bellis responded, “I think I’m definitely going to stay an amateur right now to keep my options open for college, in case an injury or something happens. But I’d love to be a pro one day. I don’t really think about [the money]. I try to just focus on the tennis rather than anything else.”

Another surprise, albeit not quite as stunning, saw Nicole Gibbs oust Carolina Garcia 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Gibbs upset the world No. 42 to record the first main-draw win at Grand Slam of her career.

Joining Bellis and Gibbs in the second round are Vania King, Varvaro Lepchenko, Coco Vandeweghe, Shelby Rogers, Madison Keys, Christina McHale, Sloane Stephens, Madison Brengle, and Venus Williams.

Heading into Tuesday night’s showdown between Serena Williams and Taylor Townsend, American women boasted a 11-4 overall record.

Taylor Townsend of the US serves to Flavia Pennetta of Italy during the second round of the Western and Southern tennis tournament at the Lindner Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, USA, 13 August 2014. EPA/MARK LYONS

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: CiCi Bellis, Dominika Cibulkova, Ricky Dimon, Serena Williams, Taylor Townsend, Tennis, US Open

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10sBalls_com says:

August 26, 2014 at 6:52 pm

RICKY DIMON LOOKS @ AMERICAN WOMEN SOARING @ 2014 @usopen WITH @serenawilliams VS. @Taylor_Townsen STILL TO PLAY http://t.co/P6elXMVZy2
RD_Tennistalk says:

August 26, 2014 at 6:58 pm

@BenRothenberg @FortyDeuceTwits RT @10sBalls_com RICKY DIMON LOOKS @ AMERICAN WOMEN SOARING @ 2014 @usopen http://t.co/osTiS2WsQW