No. 1 Player in 16s Rallies, Ousts Friend

SAN DIEGO — Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport took the court for her quarterfinal singles match Thursday feeling a little too soft-hearted toward her opponent, and it nearly cost her in the United States Tennis Assn. Girls’ 16s National Championships.

Facing sixth-seeded Katie Schlukebir of Kalamazoo, Mich., Davenport dropped the first set, 6-1, before she came back to overpower Schlukebir, 6-3, 6-1, and advance to today’s semifinals at Morley Field.

“She’s a good friend of mine,” said Davenport, who conceded she opened tentatively because of that. “We’ve warmed up together all week. We warmed up together today, even though we were playing each other.”

But Davenport isn’t about to let a little friendship stand in the way of a possible national championship. Of the four players--including La Jolla’s Ditta Huber--who advanced to today’s 11:30 a.m. semifinals, Davenport is the hottest.

Within the past two months, she has won singles titles at the National Clay Court championships and Seventeen Magazine invitational tourney. Davenport, who turned 14 in June and stands 6-feet-2, won the girls’ 16s singles draw at the Ojai Invitational in April and claimed both singles and doubles titles in the 1989 USTA Girls’ 14s National Championships.

Davenport will face fourth-seeded Lisa Pugliese of Boca Raton, Fla., today. Pugliese defeated Kimberly Kozlowski of Sarasota, Fla., 6-2, 6-4. No. 8 Amy Chiminello of Mecrose, Mass., a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Diana Spadea of Boca Raton, Fla., will face the last of four San Diego-area players still alive, third-seeded Huber.

Huber, like Davenport, considers herself a slow starter, but she has won five straight-set matches since the tournament started Sunday, including Thursday’s 6-4, 6-4 defeat of No. 5 Tiffany Gates of Grandville, Mich. The most crucial victory for Huber was also her most lopsided, a 6-1, 6-1 blowout Wednesday of 14th-seeded Valerie Poulos of Boston. Poulos defeated Huber three weeks ago at the clay court nationals, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

Huber had no trouble with Gates, only the large crowd at Morley Field’s stadium court.

“People were talking pretty loud, and it was hard not to hear some of the conversations in the beginning,” Huber said. “Everything just echoed.”

While Huber and Davenport are both hoping to reach Saturday’s 11:30 a.m. singles final, where they would oppose each other, they will play together in today’s 2:30 p.m. doubles semifinals. Huber and Davenport, seeded first, will face unseeded Cindy Kuragami of Buena Park and Heidi Steiber of Bakersfield.