Bellis, 16, to play Date-Krumm, 44, in Open qualies

CiCi Bellis, playing in last month's Sacramento Chal-
lenger, stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in
the first round of the main draw at last year's U.S. Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   It'll be the kid versus Kimiko today in the first round of U.S. Open qualifying.
   CiCi Bellis, 16, of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area will face 44-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Bellis did not receive another wild card after stunning 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the main draw at last year's U.S. Open. Bellis became the youngest player to win a main-draw match at the U.S. Open since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996.
   Date-Krumm reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals in 1993 and 1994, and climbed to a career-high No. 4 in the world in 1995. She retired at the end of 1996 for 11 1/2 years.
   Date-Krumm is ranked No. 148, and Bellis is No. 161.
   Maria Sanchez, a 25-year-old Modesto product, is scheduled to play 19-year-old Ipek Soylu of Turkey in the first round of qualifying on Wednesday.
   Sanchez, a 2011 USC graduate, is ranked No. 172. That's nine spots ahead of Soylu, who won last year's U.S. Open girls doubles title with Jil Teichmann of Switzerland.
   On the men's side, 21-year-old Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the Bay Area will take on Gastao Elias, 24, of Portugal today. Elias is ranked No. 186 to Novikov's No. 204.
   Qualifying continues through Friday, and the main draw begins on Monday.