itting at the GHI Bronx Classic in Crotona Park, whispers about a young Anna Kournikova, the tennis world's epitome of style over substance, could be heard in the crowd discussing 16-year-old Ashley Harkleroad. The comparison is an easy one because Harkleroad is also young, attractive and plays tennis, and it is one she is comfortable with.

"I take it as a compliment, for the most part," Harkleroad, a Georgia native, said yesterday with a noticeable Southern accent. "But I want to be a better tennis player than she is. I want to play good tennis and win Grand Slams and all that."

Kournikova is the 20-year-old Russian with great promise, plenty of endorsements and no tournament titles. People with the United States Tennis Association expect great things from Harkleroad, who will, in all likelihood, be named a wild-card selection into the main draw of the United States Open later this month.

The attention is not unwarranted, as Harkleroad showed on Tuesday in her first-round victory in the GHI Classic over Greta Arn of Germany. Harkleroad's serve, a part of her game she admits she needs to work on, was never broken by Arn, and Harkleroad's ground strokes kept the German playing well behind the baseline for most of the match. Harkleroad won easily, 6-4, 6-1.

Harkleroad started playing tennis at age 4 in Georgia before moving to Wesley Chapel, Fla., home of the Saddlebrook Tennis Academy. She has represented the United States at various age-group levels of international team competition and helped capture the I.T.F. Connolly Continental Cup last December by winning all of her singles and doubles matches. This year she played in her first Women's Tennis Association tournament, losing in the first round of the Ericcson Open in March.

"There's no question that the potential is there," the United States national coach Ricardo Acuña said. "She's a good little player with a lot of shots. Plus, she's beginning to develop and get stronger in her body as well as her mind."

Part of the credit for her mental development goes to Martina Hingis, the world's No. 1-ranked player and Harkleroad's neighbor in Wesley Chapel. The two occasionally practice together.

"She's just so very consistent and so smart on the court," Harkleroad said of Hingis. "I'm starting to try to think like her on the court. Like her, I'm not a big person. I'm not going to be able to overpower anybody out on the court. I've got to be quick and use my head and feet. I'm not Venus Williams out there."

For now, Harkleroad, who is 5 feet 6, is content playing juniors, where she is the fifth-ranked player in the country, and not making the leap to a full Tour schedule.

She is also growing more accustomed to the comparisons with Kournikova, though only on the surface.

"As far as looks go, I'm flattered," she said.

"She's the best-looking athlete in the world right now, and I want to be that too," Harkleroad added, laughing. "But I want to be more than that, too."