The first things you notice when watching Anna Mamalat play tennis is how young and frail she looks and her unorthodox strokes.

She hits her forehand and backhand with two hands, rifling low cross-court shots with ease from both sides.

"I started playing tennis when I was 31/2 years old," said Mamalat, 15, who lives in Philadelphia and is home-schooled. "I guess I was just weak when my dad first put my two hands on the racket. I really like it because you get a lot of angles with it."

She added with a smile: "It's unique."

Top-seeded Mamalat parlayed steady, well-placed ground strokes and a deceptive drop shot to defeat No. 3 Kate Turvy, 6-4, 6-2, in a battle of contrasting styles in the final of the National Collegiate Clay Court Championships yesterday at the Mt. Lebanon center.

Mamalat is believed to be the youngest winner in the tournament, which is a national summer event sponsored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).

Turvy, 18, a native of Columbus, Ohio, who will be a freshman at Northwestern University this fall, challenged with a variety of rainbow top-spin lobs that Mamalat sent back with hard, flat returns that hugged the sidelines.

"I see that from a lot of the girls," said Mamalat, who appears to be smaller than the 5 feet 2, 115 pounds she says she is. "I guess they think they can overpower me with that strategy. It doesn't bother me."

Not much bothered Mamalat on the way to the title in her second appearance in a national collegiate tournament. She reached the final in a hardcourt event last summer at Penn State.

"I like clay because the ball is slower and you play longer points," she said. "It's more interesting. I knew some of the girls and I would be able to beat them if I played my best game. She [Turvy] doesn't miss much and it was a good match."

Asked about her future tennis goals, Mamalat answered without hesitation, "I want to turn pro some day."

In the Men's Future of Pittsburgh, two unseeded American players will meet in the final today at 11 a.m. -- Dennis Zivkovic and Blake Strode.

Zivkovic, 22, a native of Miami who recently was a teacher at the Upper St. Clair Tennis Development Program, advanced with an entertaining 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory against Steve Johnson, a standout at the University of Southern California in the semifinals. Strode, a graduate of the University of Arkansas, knocked off No. 4 Matej Bocko of Slovakia, 6-3, 6-3, in the other semifinals.

The tournament has been a wild ride for Zivkovic, who entered as a wild card in the qualifier and has pulled off a string of upsets this week.

It was a struggle to get past Johnson as the players traded powerful forehands and sliced backhands mixed with occasional delicate drop shots, crisp volleys and overheads along with an ace or two.

Neither player could break serve in the first set and Johnson won the final three points in the tiebreaker. The second set was eventful because the blustery wind blew down the scoreboard and Zivkovic received an obscenity warning from the referee after he unleashed expletives when his frustration boiled over.

The players each broke serve once in the second set and Zivkovic took the final three points in the tiebreaker.

Zivkovic grabbed the third set without any extracurricular interruptions.

The third-seeded team of Zivkovic and Haydn Lewis will meet No. 2 Austin Krajicek and Ryne Williams in the doubles final today following the singles match.