Huber Marks the Spot, Reaches Girls’ 16s Final : Tennis: La Jollan also advances in doubles and will play for two national titles today at Morley Field.

SAN DIEGO â€”  La Jolla’s Ditta Huber should have taken a stick of chalk and scratched four X’s on the stadium tennis court at Morley Field Friday before her semifinal singles match against Amy Chiminello in the U.S. Tennis Assn. Girls’ 16s National Championships.

She could have placed two of them two inches inside each sideline, about a foot from the baseline, for her passing shots. And she could have put two more about three feet closer to the net, again just inside the sideline, for her crossing shots. By the end of the match, all would have been gone, rubbed out by the dozens of winning shots Huber landed there.

She could win a lot of tournaments and leave a lot of opponents helpless by hitting those spots. Huber, 14 and seeded third here, defeated No. 8 Chiminello of Melrose, Mass., 6-1, 6-4, and advanced to today’s singles final, where she will face fourth-seeded Lisa Pugliese of Boca Raton, Fla., at 11:30 a.m.

“It kind of felt like, ‘Do I want to hit this line or that line?’ � Huber said of the pinpoint shots, which seemed to come from anywhere, any time, whether she was attacking the net or staying on the baseline, digging out a deep forehand or trying to angle a running backhand.

“It’s a really neat feeling to know I could hit the ball just about anywhere,� she said. “Hopefully, it’ll be that way tomorrow. I have a really tough match ahead of me.�

Pugliese, after dropping the first set to top-seeded Lindsay Davenport of Palos Verdes, staged a stirring comeback to win, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2. Huber watched the final set after she made quick work of Chiminello.

Pugliese just shrugged afterward, as if the comeback was no big deal.

“I just relaxed and played more aggressive after the first set,� said Pugliese, whose next-door neighbor in Florida is Steffi Graf. “She was making every single shot. I felt I didn’t have anything to lose. I started hitting the ball deeper, and (Davenport) became more tentative.�

Davenport and Chiminello are not playing for a singles title, but both won their semifinal doubles matches to advance to today’s final at 1:30 p.m. Top-seeded Davenport and Huber defeated unseeded Cindy Kuragami of Buena Park and Heidi Steiber of Bakersfield, 6-2, 6-3, and fourth-seeded Chiminello and Holyn Lord of Carmel, Ind. beat No. 2 Katie Schlukebir of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Julie Steven of Wichita, Kan., 5-7, 6-0, 6-2.

Huber and Pugliese left no doubt that the singles final will be between the best two players in this tournament. But if ever somebody looked ready to win a championship, Huber did. No one has taken her to three sets, and no one has won more than four games in a set against her. And she conceded this may be the best tennis she has ever played.

“I never even thought that I would get this far,� Huber said. “This is the best tennis I’ve ever played for six matches in a row. I’ve felt really relaxed most of the tournament. I just swing, and there goes another winner.�

She hit 12 winners in the first set, 13 in the second. The only thing that kept Chiminello in the match was Huber’s own unforced errors. Chiminello was able to break Huber’s serve only when Huber frittered away two match points when she led, 5-2, in the second set, then double-faulted the game.

“She played like she couldn’t miss,� Chiminello said. “I was trying the entire match. I wasn’t going to give it to her. But she’d even be hitting the ball late, and they were winners.�

Chiminello, 16, spent most of the match scrambling from corner to corner on the baseline, trying to chase down Huber’s powerful ground strokes. As a result, her returns were usually shovel lobs that left Huber wide-eyed on the other end. Most of Huber’s mistakes were errors of aggression; many times, she was too anxious to jump on Chiminello’s easy returns.

But when Huber measured her shots, she was impeccable. She also closed out three games with service aces. And during one stretch in the second set, in which she broke Chiminello’s serve to lead, 5-2, Huber won six consecutive points with five passing shots and an ace. Chiminello shook her head as if to ask, “Why me?�

“I’ve had a tough draw,� Chiminello said. “Every match has been a dogfight until now. I didn’t even feel I was in this one.�