TENNIS / JUNIOR GIRLS TOURNAMENT : Californians Have a Day in the Sun

Karen O’Sullivan and Jennifer Poulos traveled all the way to Mission Viejo from Boston. Christina Moros made the trip from Sarasota, Fla. Jennifer Nasser came from Arlington Heights, Ill. And Kristen Sanderson was down from Edina, Minn.

And then the California girls sent them packing Friday during semifinal action of the Seventeen Magazine Tournament of Champions at Mission Viejo International Sports Complex.

The event is designed to be a showcase of the nation’s top-ranked juniors, but this year’s tournament turned into a locals-only party when Californians swept all six semifinal matches.

Anne Mall of Laguna Niguel overpowered Nasser, 6-3, 6-0. Mall’s opponent in the 18-and-under division final at 1 p.m. today will be Lodi’s Beth Berris, who beat Poulos, 6-1, 6-0.

Lindsay Davenport of Palos Verdes beat neighbor Janet Lee of Rancho Palos Verdes, 6-1, 6-1, in one 16s semifinal. La Jolla’s Ditta Huber defeated O’Sullivan in the other, 6-0, 6-1. Davenport and Huber will meet in the final at 11:30.

In the 14s, Amanda Basica of Lomita cruised past Moros, 6-2, 6-2, and Northridge’s Meilin Tu defeated Sanderson, 6-1, 7-6. The 14s final will start at 10.

Both Mall, ranked No. 10 in the country, and Davenport, ranked No. 1, had tough quarterfinal matches in the morning.

Mall fell behind Keirsten Alley, of Melrose, Mass., 0-5, before rallying to win 11 consecutive games. Alley came out hitting blistering groundstrokes for winners, but when Mall took a little pace off her shots and quit trying to outslug the New Englander, the momentum of the match changed rapidly. Mall won the first set, 7-5, and ran away with the second, 6-1.

Davenport, struggling with her first serve, dropped the opening set in the quarterfinal to Julie Steven of Wichita, Kan. Steven, whose head doesn’t reach the shoulders of the 6-foot-2 Davenport, began missing her attempts at winners and, after two hours, finally lost to Davenport, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.