Catherine
Bellis entered the Hawaiian Open as the No.4 seed, and coupled with a 9-match
winning streak that saw her win 2 ITF $50,000 tournaments in Canada. With these
2 title runs, Bellis entered the Top 100 in the ranking for the first time,
becoming the youngest player in the Top 100 of the rankings at 17 years old.
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| Bellis with her title in Saguenay. Photo from CiCi Bellis' instagram |
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| Bellis with her 2nd consecutive title, in Toronto. Photo by Max Gao of VAVEL USA |
Bellis
started the tournament brightly, defeating qualifier Zhang Nan-Nan from China
in straight sets in just a little over an hour. Bellis was very productive on
her serve, winning 77% of her first service points.
She next
played the wildcard from USA, Usue Maitane Arconada. Bellis’ serve was once
again at its destructive best, winning 65% of first service points and 67% of
second service points. She managed to close out the match in just 55 minutes to
set up a meeting with 7th seed Sara Sorribes Tormo in the
quarterfinal.
Facing the
7th seed Sara Sorribes Tormo, Bellis strolled to yet another
victory, receiving a little help from Sorribes Tormo’s disappointing serving
display having served 13 double faults with just 1 ace, winning just 2 points
off her second service during the whole match.
She faced
American Jacqueline Cako for a place in the final, and her amazing run
continued as Bellis triumphed once again in yet another straight sets win.
Bellis was destructive on her return, winning 67% of second service return
points.
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| Bellis hitting a backhand during a match. Photo by www.staradvertiser.com |
Trying to
win her first ever WTA title of any kind, Bellis went up against No.1 seed and
Australian Open quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai in the final. Bellis went into the
match with lots of confidence, winning all her matches in straight sets and
with a 13-match winning streak. Zhang came into the match as the heavy
favourite though, since she is the higher-ranked and she also has a 9-match winning streak. Bellis earned her 1st ever WTA title, and achieved the
best win of her young career by defeating Zhang in a surprisingly easy match
that lasted only for 1 hour and 5 minutes.
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| Bellis with her newly-won title in Honolulu, Hawaii. Photo by www.staradvertiser.com |
This win
extended her winning streak to 14, and pushed her up into the Top 75 of the
rankings, being the youngest player placed in there.