No. 2 seed Bellis advances in French Open junior girls

   Second-seeded CiCi Bellis of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area defeated Kimberly Birrell of Australia 6-3, 6-3 today in the first round of the French Open junior girls event in Paris.
   Bellis, the third-ranked junior in the world at 15 years old, is playing in her second Grand Slam tournament. At 14, she lost to second seed and eventual champion Ana Konjuh, 15, of Croatia 6-3, 6-3 in the third round of the U.S. Open last September.
   Bellis competed in her first professional tournaments in February, qualifying for $25,000 Challengers in the San Diego and Phoenix areas before falling to veterans in the first round.
   In the latter tournament, Bellis extended second-seeded Sofia Arvidsson, 30, to 6-4 in the third set. Arvidsson, ranked No. 123 in the world at the time, reached a career-high No. 29 in 2006.
   In March, Bellis won the girls 18 singles title in the prestigious Easter Bowl at Indian Wells and advanced to the quarterfinals of a $10,000 pro tournament on clay in Orlando, Fla.
   Here's a link to my in-depth profile of Bellis in 2012: http://norcaltennisczar.blogspot.com/2012/06/little-bellis-gets-big-results.html
   In the second round of mixed doubles at the French Open, Raquel Kops-Jones of Fresno and Raven Klaasen of South Africa lost to fifth-seeded Kristina Mladenovic of France and Daniel Nestor of Canada 6-3, 6-2.
   Mladenovic, who stunned second seed and two-time Grand Slam singles champion Li Na in the first round of singles, and Nestor won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title last year.