TENNIS SAN DIEGO TOURNAMENT : Gavaldon Wins, Seeks Chance to Play Navratilova

Angelica Gavaldon came dressed for success. The color-conscious 16-year old from Coronado left the neons at home and opted instead for all-white.

But the player who has quickly developed a reputation as being one of the more flamboyant dressers on the tour didn’t break with tradition entirely--a red band held her long hair in place.

In her opening match of the Great American Bank Tennis Tournament Monday night, Gavaldon played like a seasoned veteran, defeating West Germany’s Claudia Porwik, 7-5, 6-4 before 3,514 at the San Diego Tennis & Racquet Club. The victory earned Gavaldon, who turned professional in February, the chance to play the second-ranked player in the world, should Martina Navratilova win her opening match against Rosalyn Fairbank-Nideffer tonight at 6:30.

“Even though I was down in both sets,” Gavaldon said, “I was very happy to be able to come back.”

Since Friday’s draw, Gavaldon has known Navratilova would be her opponent in the second round, should she beat Porwik as expected.

Gavaldon made it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January, then was stopped by Porwik.

“It’s not my best victory,” she said of winning Monday night, “but I was happy to get another chance to play her. I could have gotten to the semis at the Australian Open if I had beat her there.”

With her powerful groundstrokes, Gavaldon had Porwik moving from side to side in the backcourt. But with her first match point, Gavaldon double-faulted for the first time.

Was it nerves or a bad toss? Neither. It was Navratilova.

“On match point that’s what I was thinking about,” she said. “But I’m not nervous about playing her. I have nothing to lose. I’m just glad I have an opportunity to play her.”

Gavaldon may still be a new kid on the block, but she is still more well known than rookie Alysia May, the other wild-card player. They can make the veterans nervous. Ask Manuela Maleeva.

May, a former UCLA All-American, turned pro two months ago in Singapore, and gave fourth-seeded Maleeva a scare before losing Monday night, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

“I think she played very well,” said Maleeva, “not knowing who she is and where she’s from. I don’t know if she can play every day like this.”

If, indeed, she can, May’s emergence on the pro tour verifies Maleeva’s view that in today’s tournaments, there is no such thing as an easy match.

“Everyone’s so good now,” she said. “I really think, against the player you haven’t heard of, you can’t afford one mistake, you can’t relax for one point.”

May was down, 4-1, in the second set before winning her serve to take a 5-4 lead. But both players held serve--Maleeva held twice--to force the tiebreaker.

“I was becoming impatient,” May said. “But then I settled down and started to play better.”

In the opening match on center court, Terry Phelps of Larchmont, N.Y. dropped the first set, but came back to upset seventh-seeded Gretchen Magers of San Diego, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Tennis Notes

Renata Baranski, the 150th-ranked player in the world, eliminated Catarina Lindqvist, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 1989, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2. Martina Navratilova will play Rancho Bernardo’s Rosalyn Fairbank-Nideffer tonight at 6:30. Top-seeded Steffi Graf, the No. 1 player in the world, will play wild-card entrant Stephanie Rehe of Oceanside today at 11 a.m.