Po Shows Steady Hand in Slims Win : Tennis: Former Miraleste High player advances to round of 16 with 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Kimberly Po considers herself to be a consistent tennis player and on Wednesday she proved it with a steady performance in the $375,000 Virginia Slims of Los Angeles.

The Rolling Hills native, in her second full season on the pro tour, advanced to the round of 16 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Finland’s Nanne Dahlman.

“I’m doing well in each tournament, but not great,” said Po, a graduate of Miraleste High.

Po, 21, relied on baseline strokes to defeat Dahlman in a lengthy match at the Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach.

Po led, 3-1, in the first set, but Dahlman broke serve in the fifth game and held serve to tie the set, 3-3.

Po won the next two games and at 5-4 broke Dahlman’s serve for the set.

“She was playing pretty good,” Dahlman said. “She had some great shots, but I also feel like I didn’t move that well.”

Po got off to a slow start in the second set. She trailed, 3-1, before tying it at 3-3. Dahlman broke Po’s serve for a 4-3 lead, but Po returned the favor and tied it at 4-4.

Po held serve to take a 5-4 lead, then gave up four match points before ripping a forehand down the line to win the match. Dahlman, expecting a cross-court shot, looked helplessly at the ball and moaned.

“I definitely didn’t play as well as I did on Monday,” Po said. “She hits such low, flat balls and they’re hard to control.”

Po, who is ranked 62nd in the world, upset 15th-seeded Lisa Raymond, 6-7, 6-4, 6-1, in the first round on Monday. Po is not seeded in the 56-player tournament.

She will play sixth-seeded Mary Pierce of France in the round of 16 today. Pierce, who is ranked 14th in the world, defeated unseeded Elizabeth Smylie of Australia, 6-4, 6-3, on Wednesday.

Po also played doubles at the Slims with Caroline Kuhlman, a former USC All-American. Po and Kuhlman, who were not seeded, lost, 7-6, 0-6, 2-6, to second-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Helena Sukova in the second round.

Po has won two professional tournaments in her career and earned $85,919 in 1992. In 1993, she has earned $77,508 and recently completed a TeamTennis season with the L.A. Strings.

“I play in about 17 tournaments a year because I don’t like being away that much,” Po said. “It’s nice to play here at home because I have extra family and friends out here.”

The 5-foot-3, 125-pound Po started playing tennis when she was 9. She has trained with Robert Landsorp, Tracy Austin’s longtime coach, for almost a decade.

As a senior at Miraleste, she was undefeated in singles and won the CIF doubles title.

In 1987 and ‘88, Po won the U.S. Open junior doubles title with Meredith McGrath. She played at UCLA for two seasons before turning pro.

As a freshman at UCLA, Po won the preseason Rolex tournament, but tore ligaments in her right elbow after the tournament and sat out most of the season.

“At first I was misdiagnosed,” Po said. “The doctors at UCLA said I just bruised the elbow and could come back in four days. I kept trying to do that and it just got worse.”

As a sophomore, Po tore ligaments in her right thumb and missed the beginning of the season. She came back and eventually played No. 1 singles.

Po reached the singles final of the Pacific 10 Conference tournament at Ojai and won the doubles title with Stella Sampras.

“I turned pro because I didn’t want to get injured again,” Po said. “College is rough because you play a lot of matches and tournaments. I didn’t know how long my body would last.”

Po says there are many misconceptions about playing on the pro tour.

“All my friends say I’m lucky because I get to see the world,” she said. “They don’t realize that you’re always tired because you’re practicing and playing all the time.”

Po intends to eventually return to school to earn a geography degree.

“I really don’t know how much longer I’ll do this,” she said. “Not only do I want to go back to school, but I also want to have a family.”

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Former Chadwick player Lindsay Davenport also won her second-round match. Davenport, 17, defeated Natalia Baudone of Belgium, 6-2, 6-1.

The 11th-seeded Davenport will play eighth-seeded Zina Garrison-Jackson today.