TENNIS / JEFF FLETCHER : Undefeated Tu to Test Field in Junior Open

When Pierre Mareschal was playing tennis for Cal State Northridge, he noticed a 6-year-old girl smacking balls around the court.

“She was hitting the ball pretty well already,” Mareschal said.

Today, Mareschal coaches that little girl. And she still hits the ball pretty well.

Meilen Tu of Northridge is 14, but she is the top-ranked player in the girls’ 18-and-younger class in Southern California.

This year she won the national championship in the girls’ 18s class on clay. She helped the United States to a championship in the girls’ 14s of the International Tennis Federation Cup last week in Tokyo.

On Saturday, she leaves for New York, where she will play in the U.S. Junior Open, which starts Monday.

She hasn’t lost a match in a tournament all year. Her biggest disappointment came when she withdrew from the girls’ 18s hard-court nationals last month because of a pulled hamstring.

That was especially hard to take, Tu said, because Maria Vento, whom Tu had defeated in the final of the clay-court championships, won the tournament title, earning a berth in the main draw of the “real” U.S. Open. “That could have been me,” said Tu, who was seeded second in the hard-court tournament.

But Tu, a sophomore at Granada Hills High, seems to have it all in perspective. She discourages comparisons to other young tennis phenoms, such as Jennifer Capriati, who was ranked in the top 10 on the pro tour when she was 14.

“I don’t like to compare myself to them,” she said. “I’m my own player. It would be nice to accomplish what she’s accomplished.”

She realizes that the upcoming test will be her toughest yet. Although she has competed in 18s before, she has not faced an international field in a major junior open.

“I’m just going in thinking I’ll try my best,” Tu said. “If I lose, I lose. Then I’ll have to come home and work harder.”

SCTA Grand Prix: Three area players are leading their age divisions in the latest Southern California Tennis Assn. Grand Prix standings.

Khuschshehr Italia of North Hollywood leads the girls’ 12s with 380 points. Dylan Mann of Canoga Park leads the boys’ 14s with 480 points. Joey Edelberg of Agoura is atop the boys’ 12s standings with 580 points.

The latest standings include results of 15 of the 21 series tournaments. Four other tournaments are completed but the results have not been entered. The other two are this weekend. The top eight point earners from all tournaments in each of five age divisions will advance to the 13th K-Swiss/SCTA Summer Grand Prix Junior Masters on Nov. 2-3 at The Racquet Centre of Universal City.

Area players among the contenders are: Lauren Gaona of Camarillo, girls’ 10s, tied for third, 140 points; Davey Jones of Ventura, boys’ 10s, tied for eighth, 140 points; Leslie Balta of Oxnard, girls’ 12s, fourth, 320 points; Donetla Bernardo of Oxnard, girls’ 14s, fourth, 300 points; Brandis Braverman of Encino, girls’ 14s, tied for eighth, 200 points; Kristen Gross of Calabasas, girls’ 16s, sixth, 220 points; Jessica Kessler of Studio City and Julia Feldman of Encino, girls’ 16s, tied for eighth, 200 points.

Other area contenders: Steve Wang of Ventura, boys’ 16s, second, 400 points; Russell Ono of Thousand Oaks, boys’ 16s, fifth, 240 points; Laura Gross of Hidden Hills, girls’ 18s, second, 220 points; Ania Bleszynski of Thousand Oaks, girls’ 18s, tied for third, 200 points; and Darren Potkey of Ventura, boys’ 18s, third, 400.