Bellis, 16, falls in Stanford debut; Gibbs advances

CiCi Bellis, shown two weeks ago in the Sacramento Challenger, lost
to qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan in the first round of the Bank of the
West Classic at Stanford. Bellis lives minutes away in Atherton.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Despite losing in her Bank of the West Classic debut, CiCi Bellis remained upbeat.
   "I thought I played pretty well and gave her a good fight," the 16-year-old wild card told reporters after falling to qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Monday at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium. "It's good for me to play against players ranked so high."
   Doi, a 24-year-old left-hander, is No. 104 in the world to No. 157 for Bellis, who lives minutes away from Stanford in Atherton.
   At 15 last year, Bellis stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the U.S. Open and became the youngest player to end the season as the world's top junior since 2006. Cibulkova had reached the final of the Australian Open, losing to Li Na, in January 2014.
   Qualifier Nicole Gibbs, a former Stanford star, topped Caroline Garcia of France 6-4, 7-5 for her first WTA main-draw victory since April.
   "This was a big barrier for me to break through," said the 126th-ranked Gibbs, who reached the second round of the Bank of the West Classic for the third time. "To do it in front of my home crowd was something special."
   The 21-year-old Garcia, at No. 36, was the second-highest-ranked player Gibbs has beaten. Gibbs also defeated Garcia in the first round of last year's U.S. Open, then knocked off No. 25 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia before losing to No. 12 Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
   Gibbs, the NCAA singles champion in 2012 and 2013, will meet the winner of today's match between Ukrainians Elina Svitolina, seeded eighth, and Kateryna Bondarenko, a qualifier.
   Mona Barthel of Germany routed Carol Zhao, a 20-year-old wild card from Canada, 6-3, 6-0. Zhao reached the NCAA singles final in May as a Stanford sophomore, losing to North Carolina soph Jamie Loeb.

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

First-round singles

   Misaki Doi, Japan, def. CiCi Bellis, United States, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
   Nicole Gibbs, United States, def. Caroline Garcia, France, 6-4, 7-5.
   Andrea Petkovic (6), Germany, def. Carina Witthoeft, Germany, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.
   Madison Keys (7), United States, def. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, 6-3, 6-0.
   Mona Barthel, Germany, def. Carol Zhao, Canada, 6-3, 6-0.
   Alison Riske, United States, def. Tatjana Maria, Germany, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.

First-round doubles

   Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan, Taiwan, def. Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, and Mandy Minella, Luxembourg, 6-1, 6-3.
   Asia Muhammad, United States, and Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, def. Maria Irigoyen, Argentina, and Paula Kania, Poland, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (1), 11-9.
   Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, and Tatjana Maria, Germany, def. Eva Hrdinova, Czech Republic, and Petra Martic, Croatia, 7-6 (6), 6-3.

Today's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia, vs. Varvara Lepchenko, United States.

(Not before 1 p.m.)

   Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine, vs. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine.
   Vitalia Diatchenko, Russia, vs. Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia.

(Not before 7 p.m.)

   Angelique Kerber (5), Germany, vs. Daria Gavrilova, Russia.
   Sabine Lisicki, Germany, vs. Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan.

Court 6
(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Ana Konjuh, Croatia, vs. Saisai Zheng, China.

(Not before 12:30 p.m.)

   Anbel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja (2), Spain, vs. CiCi Bellis and Jacqueline Cako, United States.
   Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Alicja Rosolska (3), Poland, vs. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, and Andrea Petkovic, Germany.
   Klaudia Jans-Ignacik, Poland, and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia, vs. Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng, China.