Tennis Tournament at Mission Viejo : Graham Rallies to Beat a Familiar Foe in Final

After escaping a near-ambush in the form of an unfamiliar 12-year-old, Debbie Graham was looking forward to seeing an old, familiar face across the tennis court a day later.

And why not? After all, Graham was going to play a longtime junior rival, Krista Amend of San Pedro, in the final of Seventeen magazine’s Tournament of Champions on Saturday at Mission Viejo. On Friday, Graham defeated 12-year-old Jennifer Capriati in a tense three-set match. So surely there would be little surprise in store and not much for Graham to worry about against Amend.

Why? She knew Amend’s game.

For that matter, Graham knew Amend’s game so well that when the two played last month in the prestigious Easter Bowl tournament in Miami, Graham lost just one game en route to her semifinal victory.

That merely extended Graham’s winning streak over Amend, one that has lasted more than three years.

But Amend’s losing streak nearly ended as she took a 4-2 lead over Graham in the third set. However, just as Amend was poised to win the match, Graham managed to come back, winning, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, in the 18-and-under final at Marguerite Recreation Center.

Some contrast. A precocious 12-year-old one day and a fired-up 18-year-old the next.

“I was hoping for an easier match than yesterday,” Graham, a senior at Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley, said. “That was kind of my attitude when I walked on the court.”

Graham’s father, James, pointed out: “She didn’t seem to be very nervous coming over in the car.”

Debbie Graham said, laughing: “Usually I’m on everyone’s case.”

Maybe that was the problem. Or it could have been the way she played the first five games of the match. Graham took a 5-0 lead, and it appeared to be a repeat of the Easter Bowl. Only Amend, down 0-5, wasn’t thinking that way.

“No, I didn’t think that,” said Amend about the similarity to the Easter Bowl. “Because I wasn’t missing by that much. I felt I could do it. I knew I could do it, if I could just hang in there with her.”

Graham did win the first set after Amend had closed the gap to 3-5. And Amend used that momentum to take the second as Graham grew more tentative with her groundstrokes. In the third, Amend kept hitting for winners and went up 4-2, 40-0 on Graham’s serve. But Graham fought off four break points to cut the deficit to 3-4.

“If I had lost that, I would have been history,” Graham said.

Instead, Graham won her first Seventeen singles title and will take her new-found mental toughness to Europe next week for a series of international junior and professional tournaments.

“I think it’s very important to win this because I was seeded No. 1,” said Graham, who will attend Stanford next fall. “Usually, I’m not very good at winning when I’m the No. 1 seed.”

And, for the No. 2-seeded Amend, this tournament has provided her with a major psychological boost. She hadn’t planned on playing the national junior circuit this summer before heading to Arizona State; however, her performance this weekend may change her plans.

“Now, I’m enjoying it (tennis) more than I ever have,” she said. “I had been getting tired of it. But if I keep playing the way I have been, I’ll want to play this summer.”

After all, she’ll need to get ready for Graham as there’s a good chance they’ll meet again, either in junior competition or in a Pacific 10 dual match.

Tennis Notes

Miko Hemsi, 14, of Aurora, Colo., defeated Amy Chiminello of Melrose, Mass., 6-1, 6-4, in the 14-and-under singles final. Hemsi, ranked No. 13 in the 14s, didn’t drop a set in the tournament and lost just seven games in her last two matches. Top-seeded Audra Keller of Memphis beat No. 3 Lisa Raymond of Wayne, Pa., 6-4, 6-3, to win the 16-and-under title. Keller also didn’t lose a set in the tournament. Jennifer Capriati of Grenelefe, Fla., was named the tournament’s most promising player, an award that consists of a trophy and a travel grant of $3,000 to help cover expenses for the next 12 months. Capriati, 12, reached the semifinals of the 18-and-under division before losing in three sets to eventual champion Debbie Graham. Raymond also won a travel grant when she was given the Art Foust award.