Kerber dominates Bellis, 17, in U.S. Open

CiCi Bellis, shown in the first round of the U.S. Open,
lost to No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-1 late Friday
night in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis' first match in Arthur Ashe Stadium was brief.

   No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber, the reigning Australian Open champion, drubbed the 17-year-old qualifier from Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-1, 6-1 in 55 minutes late Friday night in the third round of the U.S. Open.

   Bellis had defeated Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland and Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

   As an amateur, Bellis can accept only expense money from the $140,000 she would have earned in singles and $7,570.50 for losing in the first round of doubles with Julia Boserup of Newport Beach in the Los Angeles area.

   Bellis will jump from No. 158 in the world to about No. 123 when the next rankings are released on Sept. 12. She has verbally committed to Stanford, a five-minute drive from her house, for the fall of 2017 but has said she will turn pro instead if she cracks the top 100.

   Kerber, who won last year's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, will face No. 14 seed Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, in the fourth round on Sunday.

   No. 8 Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., edged Naomi Osaka of Japan 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (3) after trailing 1-5 in the third set.

   On the men's side, No. 26 Jack Sock of Kansas City, Kan., surprised No. 7 Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. But No. 20 John Isner lost to 21-year-old Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

   Sock will meet No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, and Edmund will take on No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic. 

   Djokovic hasn't played much this week. After left-hander Jiri Vesely withdrew from their second-round match with a left forearm injury, Mikhail Youzhny retired from their third-round encounter with a hamstring strain after trailing 2-4.    Bob and Mike Bryan, the No. 3 seeds and five-time men's doubles champions, defeated Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. 

   But California natives Steve Johnson (Orange) and Sam Querrey (San Francisco) lost to Italians Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3.

   In the first round of women's doubles, No. 9 Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., fell to Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands and Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-2, 7-5.

   Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and former Stanford All-American Scott Lipsky of Irvine in the Los Angeles region upset No. 8 seeds Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic and Marcin Matkowski of Poland 7-5, 6-7 (3) [11-9] in the opening round of mixed doubles.

   Two Northern California teenagers, Keenan Mayo (16) and Katie Volynets (14), lost to Italian seeds in the first round of junior qualifying.

   Mayo, from Roseville in the Sacramento area, fell to No. 14 Andrea Guerrieri 6-4, 6-0. Volynets, from Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, succumbed to No. 15 Lucrezia Stefanini 6-1, 6-2.