Mall Reaches Round of 16 in U.S. Open Junior Girls

Anne Mall of Laguna Niguel reached the round of 16 in the junior girls’ division of the U.S. Open tennis championships Wednesday in New York with a 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 victory over Diana Spadea of Boca Raton, Fla.

Mall, who upset top-seeded Kristin Godridge of Australia in the first round Tuesday, had a 5-2 lead in the second set before Spadea came back to force a tiebreaker. Mall fell behind in the final set, 3-1, before winning five games in a row.

“I got too tentative, and was happy just getting the ball back,” Mall said. “In the third set, I just went out hitting real aggressive, playing serve and volley.”

Mall, 16, who graduated in three years from Dana Hills High School, will play Julie Steven of Wichita, Kan., today.

Mall, who won the Canadian Open junior girls’ title last week, said she has never played Steven, who defeated 16th-seeded Lindsay Davenport of Palos Verdes, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, to advance.

Eight seeded players remain in the tournament, led by Karina Habsudova of Czechoslovakia, seeded second in the 64-player draw.

“I feel pretty good,” said Mall, who plans to play at UCLA for a year before turning professional. “I’m playing pretty well. I’m pretty confident right now. I just won the Canadian Open, so I’m pretty psyched.”

Mall and her doubles partner, Anne Miller of Midland, Mich., lost in the second round Wednesday on a third-set tiebreaker to the eighth-seeded team of Elena Lihovtseva and Julia Latrova, of the Soviet Union, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).