Tennis Tournament at Mission Viejo : Graham Scrambles to Defeat 12-Year-Old in the Semifinals

What bothered Debbie Graham more than anything else in her tennis match against Jennifer Capriati had little to do with forehands or backhands.

No, it was this realization: Whereas Graham is headed for Stanford University next fall, Capriati is headed, well, all the way to seventh grade.

“I mean, she was younger than the ball people,” Graham said.

And, for that matter, Capriati is eight inches shorter than Graham, who is 5-feet 11-inches.

Welcome to junior tennis 101, subtitled, “How to play someone with nothing to lose.” Graham, a senior at Los Amigos High in Fountain Valley, survived Friday’s test after more than a few tense moments as she defeated the 12-year-old Capriati, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, in the semifinals of the 18-and-under division at the Seventeen magazine Tournament of Champions in Mission Viejo.

Despite the one-sided score of the second and third sets, Capriati forced the No. 1-seeded Graham to pull out her best shots. And Graham didn’t make things any easier for herself, as she had 11 double faults. She virtually gave away the first set, dropping her serve at love to lose, 7-5.

“I wasn’t worried,” Graham said. “I knew I had to work a lot harder. I played so much better in the second and third sets. It was like I was two different players.”

Capriati, who was coming off a recent title in the 16-and-unders at the prestigious Easter Bowl tournament in Miami, had defeated No. 3-seeded Lisa Albano of Peabody, Mass., 6-4, 7-5, in Friday’s quarterfinals. And no less an authority than Vic Braden, who watched Capriati and Graham, said he believed that Capriati’s service motion was the best he had ever seen for a girl that age.

As for Capriati, a sixth-grader from Grenelefe, Fla., she said she was satisfied. Kind of.

“After the first set, I got more confident and I thought I could win,” she said. “She just started playing out of her mind and maybe I let down a bit.”

Said Stefano Capriati, her father: “She’s still a baby. She’s still young.”

Graham, though impressed with Capriati’s skills, didn’t exactly think the 18s is an appropriate age group for a 12-year-old.

“She’s playing up, not learning about the pressure of playing kids her own age,” Graham said. “And she’s not just moving up one age group. It’s kind of ridiculous. There’s nothing for her to lose. If she wins, everybody loves her, and if she loses, it’s no big deal.”

Capriati may be 12, but she already knows how the big girls feel about playing a little girl.

“I know they still want to bite my head off,” she said, laughing.

Tennis Notes

In today’s 18-and-under final, top-seeded Debbie Graham will play No. 2-seeded Krista Amend of San Pedro. Third-seeded Lisa Raymond of Wayne, Pa., will meet No. 1 Audra Keller of Memphis, in the 16s final. Keller defeated Kimberly Chang of El Toro, 6-4, 6-2, in the quarterfinals, and also in the same age group, Keri Phebus of Newport Beach lost 6-0, 6-1 to Angelica Gavaldon of Coronado, in another quarterfinal match. Amy Chiminello of Melrose, Mass., will face Miko Hemsi of Aurora, Colo., in the 14s final.