Bellis, 18, reaches Mallorca quarterfinals

CiCi Bellis, playing in the $50,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last July,
defeated Mona Barthel of Germany 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 today in the second round
of the Mallorca Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis, an 18-year-old San Francisco native who grew up in nearby Atherton, defeated Mona Barthel of Germany 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 today on grass to reach the quarterfinals of the Mallorca Open.
   It was the first meeting between the 5-foot-7 (1.68-meter) Bellis, the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 42, and the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Barthel, ranked No. 49.
   Bellis, who's closing in on a seeding for the U.S. Open in August (if not Wimbledon in two weeks), is scheduled to play 46th-ranked Kristyna Pliskova, a 6-foot (1.84-meter) Czech left-hander, for the first time on Friday.
   Pliskova, the 25-year-old twin of third-ranked Karolina Pliskova, defeated Italy's Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion who will turn 37 on Friday, 6-3, 7-6 (7).
   Pliskova pounded a record 31 aces in a second-round loss to Monica Puig of Puerto Rico in last year's Australian Open. Puig won the singles gold medal in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August.
   Both Bellis and Pliskova played in the $50,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last July. The unseeded Bellis reached the semifinals, losing to eventual champion Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Pliskova, seeded second, lost listlessly to South Africa's Chanel Simmonds, a qualifier ranked No. 430 at the time, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round.