17-year-old Cici Bellis has won the Hawaii Tennis Open after defeating top seed Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-2, in just 66 minutes.
Bellis, who first rose to fame at the 2014 US Open when she stunned Dominika Cibulkova in the first round at the age of 15, didn’t drop a set throughout the week at the WTA 125 event in Hawaii. Facing Zhang in the final, the American saved four out of five break points and won 76% of her first service points.
“This is definitely the best support I’ve ever got at any tournament,” Wtatennis.com quoted Bellis as saying. “I was a little nervous at first. Zhang’s done so well this year and had another great week. I want to thank my team, the fans, the tournament – this is the best day of my life!”
Already the youngest player in the top 100, Bellis is now on a 14-match winning streak after previously triumphing in back-to-back Canadian ITF $50,000 events in Saguenay and Toronto prior to Hawaii. She ends her season with a win-loss of 44-16. As a result of her latest win, Bellis has risen to a ranking high of 75th, making her the 12th highest ranked American woman in the world.
First WTA title @hitennisopen 🏆💥🎉 pic.twitter.com/gtcflS1Fss
— CiCi Bellis (@cicibellis99) 28 November 2016
Hawaii was only the fifth WTA tournament that Bellis has taken part in during the 2016 season. Outside of the WTA 125 events, the American has also reached the quarter-finals in Qubec and Standford earlier this year.
