WTA: Strong return of Talent Bellis after over 18 months
Catherine Bellis has returned furiously after more than a year and a half of injury at the WTA 125k in Houston. The 20-year-old American, once ranked # 35 on the world rankings, has already won two matches without loss of set.
by Robert M. Frank
last edit: Nov 11, 2019, 08:28 pm
She had been considered one of the great talents before one. Catherine Bellis had already beaten several top-10 players in the years 2017 to 2018 and had worked his way up to 35th in the WTA World Ranking. Karolina Plisokova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Agnieszka Radwanska had once lost to the rising talent from San Francisco.
Since March 2018, after her then first-round defeat in Miami against Victoria Azarenka of the native Californian, however, was no longer heard in a row. The reason: Bellis had to undergo several wrist operations after she reached her preliminary career point. For a short time, Bellis had considered ending his tennis career.
Victories after one and a half years break
At the Oracle Challenger Series in Houston, the US-American, currently out of the WTA ranking, recently made a strong comeback. "Cici," as she is called, had not only successfully entered the peloton of the WTA 125k tournament after completing a qualifying wildcard. But the former number one in the juniors promptly followed another win without losing a set. Against the Australian Ellen Perez (WTA 238) went Bellis after over a year and a half break as the winner from the square. "It feels great," said Bellis at the event. "I'm just really happy, I was definitely ready to go back, ready to travel again."
The tournament in the state of Texas also went off well with another once highly acclaimed tennis talent. Canadian Eugenie Bouchard (WTA 220) beat Greek Valentini Grammatikopoulou (WTA 284) in the first round of the $ 162,000 hard court tournament. While former US runner-up Francesca di Lorenzo (WTA 120) is in the second round of the world rankings, returnee Bellis faces compatriot Varvara Lepchenko (WTA 167).
Vögele and Bandecchi at the start
From German-speaking countries Stefanie Vögele (WTA 118) is at the start. The number 29 seeded Swiss woman meets Fanny Stollar (WTA 88) from Hungary in round two. In addition to the tournament in Houstin these weeks will be held at the Ladies WTA 125k tournament in Taipei. In Asia, a Swiss woman also starts with Susan Bandecchi (WTA 299). The 21-year-old plays in the first round against the Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova (WTA 160).