Bellis, 16, to return from shoulder injury soon

CiCi Bellis, shown in the Sacramento
Challenger in July, has recovered from
shoulder bursitis. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sixteen-year-old sensation CiCi Bellis of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area has recovered from shoulder bursitis and plans to return to competition late next month in the $125,000 Carlsbad Classic in the San Diego area.

   Bellis has been sidelined since losing to 18-year-old Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, last year's Wimbledon girls singles champion, in the final round of qualifying at the U.S. Open in early September.
   Bellis has tumbled from a career-high No. 152 in the world in July to No. 247.
   In the 2014 U.S. Open, Bellis stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, the Australian Open runner-up that year, in the first round. Bellis ended the season as the youngest No. 1 junior in the world since 2006.
   Entries in the Nov. 22-29 Carlsbad Classic also include:

   --Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, ranked 20th.

   --Americans Christina McHale, Lauren Davis and Nicole Gibbs, a former two-time NCAA singles champion from Stanford.

   --Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer, a 2009 U.S. Open semifinalist.

   --Darya Kasatkina, an 18-year-old Russian who reached the third round of this year's U.S. Open and won last year's French Open girls title.