Top seed Bellis upset in Eddie Herr quarterfinals

CiCi Bellis meets the press at the U.S. Open. Photo by USTA

   Fifth-seeded Elena Gabriela Ruse of Romania edged top-seeded CiCi Bellis of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) today in the girls 18 quarterfinals at the Eddie Herr International Championships in Bradenton, Fla.
   The 15-year-old Bellis, two years younger than Ruse, led 3-0 in the third set and served for the match at 6-5.
   Bellis became a national sensation in August by stunning 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, the Australian Open runner-up in January, in the first round of women's singles at the U.S. Open in August. Bellis then lost to Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan.
   In the boys 16s of the Eddie Herr, top-seeded Sam Riffice of Roseville in the Sacramento area demolished eighth-seeded Jesus Suarez Rivas 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Riffice, who trains at the USTA center in Boca Raton, Fla., will face third-seeded William Tutecky of Canada on Saturday for a berth in the final.
   Riffice and Keenan Mayo, who grew up a few houses apart in Roseville, reached the doubles final in their respective divisions.
   Top-seeded Vasil Kirkov of Tampa, Fla., and Riffice topped fifth-seeded Andres Andrade and Jason Legall 7-5, 6-3 in an all-American encounter. Kirkov and Riffice will meet seventh-seeded Vale Duarte of Portugal and Patrick Kypson of Greenville, N.C.
   Second-seeded Roscoe Bellamy of Pacific Palisades in the Los Angeles region and Mayo routed unseeded Tomasz Dudek and Karol Paluch of Poland 6-2, 6-1 in the boys 14s. Bellamy and Mayo will play unseeded Andrew Fenty of College Park, Md., and Brian Shi of Jericho, N.Y.
   Fenty's father, Adrian, served as the mayor of Washington, D.C., from 2007 to 2011.