shley Harkleroad said with an embarrassed giggle afterward that she did not really even see herself in the outfit. Perhaps it was because the meager Lycra material with an abstract pattern of blue and gray squares was so streamlined it seemed wallpapered to her body, clinging like a bathing suit.

But a packed crowd on Court 11 noticed Harkleroad, the tanned 16- year-old from Florida playing her debut match yesterday at the United States Open against Meilen Tu. Harkleroad, with long blond hair in a ponytail that hit the middle of her back, was wearing a cropped tank top and short shorts with slits to her upper thigh on each leg, providing air-conditioning on a late summer afternoon.

A couple of shirtless fans in the front row cheered Harkleroad's every move, even her mis-hits. A few fans whistled. Others took pictures. Tu, a 23-year-old who is ranked 43rd in the world, wore a more traditional short-sleeved shirt and white skirt. She shook her head when asked about Harkleroad's attire. "I would have never worn anything like that when I was 16," she said after winning their match, 6-4, 2-6, 6-0.

But Harkleroad, the youngest player in the women's draw, did not see herself as any kind of an object yesterday. She welcomed the comparisons to Anna Kournikova, the WTA Tour's reigning sex symbol who withdrew from the Open with foot problems, and tried to shrug off the attention swirling around her as the promising teenager, albeit ranked No. 284 in the world.

"I think I played pretty well considering the pressure that I had, the press and all eyes were, you know, on me of all the wild cards," Harkleroad said.

But all Harkleroad ended up winning at this Open happened Saturday, when the crowd voted her as the "Survivor" among three young promising stars during Arthur Ashe Kids' Day. She felt emboldened and confident by the attention Saturday, until the popularity contest ended on a side court yesterday, when Tu crisply eliminated her.

Afterward, 43 members of the press wanted to speak to Harkleroad; 3 spoke to Tu. First, Harkleroad talked about her clothes, not her tennis, a fitting statement about her career now.

"I went to the Nike room earlier this week and I tried on all the clothes and they liked me in that outfit best," Harkleroad said. "I think it was a little revealing but I like that sometimes. So it was fine with me. And they liked me wearing it, so that's why I wore it. It was tight and it was short, but I like things like that. And possibly the crowd maybe was on my side a little bit from that outfit, but I don't know if they were."

Danny Harkleroad, her father, could see they were and he was not sure whether to be disturbed or encouraged. It made him question whether her outfit was appropriate or perhaps exploitive. "I thought about that; it has to cross your mind because she is wearing the skimpy outfit," he said. "But everyone is wearing that. She's a tennis player. Tennis and sports is entertainment.

"I think all men that love tennis respect female athletes, including myself," he continued. "I respect Marion Jones and Jennifer Capriati and Venus and all these other girls wearing these nice outfits. I don't think the true tennis fans looked at it in a bad way."

He continued his reasoning: "You get to the beach and people are wearing skimpy bikinis and it's like they're wearing their underwear on beaches. She's got more on than a bikini. It's just the way it is now. It's the media. It's television."

Danny Harkleroad said his dream was for his daughter to become a professional tennis player. The family moved from Georgia to Florida so she could train at Saddlebrook, and Ashley turned pro in the spring of 2000.

Ashley Harkleroad earned a wild card to the Open because of her No. 5 ranking in the world at the junior level, having reached the semifinals of the Australian and French Opens, and winning the Wimbledon doubles tournament.

"It's sad that they need to sell the sexuality," said Tu, who won the junior title at the Open in 1994, beating Martina Hingis. "I mean, sexuality sells but it's sad because she's going to be a good player."

In the second set, Harkleroad pounced on Tu's ground strokes, redirecting the match with a flash of confidence. That disappeared in the first game of the third set, when she played 2 loose points and Tu broke her serve. From then, she unraveled, unprepared for the pressure.

Tu understands the comparisons of Harkleroad with Kournikova but she thinks they are wrong. "She doesn't have the same feel for the game and doesn't hit as hard," Tu said of Harkleroad. "There was so much hype surrounding her and I thought, `She's going to be really, really good.' But you can see she is still making a transition to the pros."

Harkleroad realizes that. "My goals are to do my very best and be in the top 10 or top five," she said. "I hope to really start doing well when I'm about 18."