CiCi Bellis, the youngest American woman to win a match at the US Open in 28 years, is a year younger than Google. Her favorite player is 3-time US Open champ Kim Clijsters. CiCi likes everything about Clijsters: “her confidence on the court, the way she carried herself, her game. The fact she had kids, then came back to win the U.S. Open, that’s crazy.” CiCi won’t be worrying about that kind of comeback for a while–she’s got other plans, like learning to drive a car and winning tennis matches. The 15-year-old is due $60,ooo even if she loses her next match, but plans to leave the check behind and remain an amateur.
Next up is Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan. Diyas is unseeded, but strolled to her own first round victory, 6-1, 6-2. Diyas is all of twenty years old. She was born the year before Yahoo! was founded. Diyas has been ranked as high as No. 46 in the world and has won half a million dollars so far. She’ll be the grande dame out there in round 2–and there will be a lot of people watching.
