WHAT HAPPENED: Catherine “CiCi” Bellis—the world No. 188 who had her breakout tournament at Flushing Meadows in 2014 when she upset No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova as a 15-year-old—came back from a set down to beat world No. 118 Tamara Korpatsch in a roller coaster of a contest, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Even though she is currently ranked 70 spots lower than her opponent, the match-up seemed like it would favor Bellis on paper. The American—who reached the third round of the US Open in 2016 as a 17-year-old—was ranked as high as No. 35 in the world in 2017 and recorded wins over Top 10 players Agnieszka Radwanska and Karolina Pliskova before injuries and multiple surgeries took her out of competition for much of the last two years. Since returning to the tour, she’s shown just how formidable she can be. She took out No. 20 seed Karolina Muchova at the Australian Open (before falling to No. 17 seed Elise Mertens in the third round), and she narrowly lost to world No. 11 Aryna Sabalenka in three grueling sets in the second round of Cincinnati. By contrast, the German Korpatsch was competing in her first-ever main draw Grand Slam match.
Korpatsch, though, was not remotely awed by the occasion—she came out blitzing winners seemingly at will. Bellis played with controlled aggression and more consistency, but many points were ultimately decided by Korpatsch’s shots and whether they happened to stay in. (Korpatsch also showed some deft touch getting the better of Bellis with drop shots, and at one point, a lob winner.) The pair exchanged breaks throughout the first set, but neither was able to maintain an advantage, leading to a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker was, in a word, dramatic. Korpatsch raced out to a 4-1 lead and eventually earned six set points. Bellis was able to save all six by extending the rallies and hitting some absurd winners of her own. Bellis eventually had three set points but wasn’t able to capitalize either, falling over in the middle of the point on one. Korpatsch was finally able to convert on her seventh set point when a ball from Bellis floated wide, taking the tiebreak, 15-13.
In the second set, Bellis was able to neutralize Korpatsch’s live arm and the two exchanged more grueling rallies than they did for much of the first set. The American’s game really started to click, and she broke Korpatsch at 3-2, then held to serve it out, capping her final service game of the set with two winners and an ace.
Korpatsch struggled to impose her game going forward. While Bellis continued to consistently get balls back in play, the world No. 118 started to make errors even when it appeared that she was ahead in the point. Bellis quickly went up a double break to 3-0, and while Korpatsch was able to earn one of those back, she couldn’t find the range that she had in the first set and eventually lost the third 6-2.
WHAT IT MEANS: Bellis next faces the winner of the match between Anna Blinkova and No. 28 seed Jennifer Brady. If she wins that match, she could take on No. 1 seed Karolina Pliskova in the third round. The pair have split their previous two meetings.
MATCH POINT: Although Korpatsch seemed to fire more winners in the early stages of the match, Bellis ended up hitting 30 of her own, just four less than her opponent.
