Young Albanese is tough

Don’t let the long pigtail and the youthful face fool you.

The Newport Beach Breakers’ Lauren Albanese is a fighter.

True, she won’t turn 18 until October. Albanese is the second-youngest player in World Team Tennis behind Sacramento’s Michelle Larcher de Brito, who is 14 but has played considerably less frequently than Albanese this season.

On Newport Beach’s team, Albanese is the youngest player by a full 10 years. Her women’s doubles teammate, Michaela Pastikova, comes closest in age, but she’s 27.

“There’s a pretty big age difference but I’m fitting in,” Albanese said via phone interview during the Breakers’ road-trip this week. “It’s really fun to play Team Tennis, in a team environment. It’s nice to be able to cheer on your teammates, have a coach on the side and have the challenge system. It’s really fun so far.”

So age is nothing but a number. In tennis, so is love, and that’s what Breakers fans have shown for Albanese this year. The young, scrappy player, who is an even .500 in women’s singles (26 games won and 26 lost), has quickly become a fan favorite.

Go to tonight’s Breakers match, and you’ll probably hear at least a couple of kids yell, “Go, Lauren!”

“I have talked to quite a few kids,” Albanese said. “They all have different stories. Some of them play [tennis], some of them don’t, but it’s always nice to see kids look up to you. I’m really flattered by it.”

Albanese’s story is one of a fast rise. She started playing tennis at 9, which seems young but really isn’t in a tennis world where many children start playing at 4 or 5.

Albanese said she started playing by just following what her friends were doing. But once she was in, it was hard to stop, and she said she looked up to players like Jennifer Capriati and Andre Agassi.

Funny that Albanese would bring up Capriati, who is a Florida native like Albanese and had both a big forehand and backhand, also just like Albanese.

“I didn’t know she was from Florida, actually,” said Albanese, who was born in Jacksonville and lives in Parkland, Fla. “I take it as a compliment that people say my game’s similar to hers. But I’m just trying to develop my own style, play my own kind of game.”

Her game is impressive. Albanese, considered one of the top girls’ players in the country, won the girls’ 18 singles USTA National Championship last summer in San Jose. She didn’t drop a set while winning seven matches.

Albanese then made it to the second round of the main draw of the U.S. Open last fall.

In a year, she has made an impact on the pro game, upping her Women’s Tennis Assn. (WTA) ranking all the way to No. 220 in the world.

When she stepped on the court at the U.S. Open, she said she wasn’t fazed.

“I wasn’t intimidated or anything,” said Albanese, who also made it to the semifinals of the junior girls’ competition at last year’s U.S Open. “I believed I could do it. I just thought that if I kept working hard, I can compete at that level with those women.”

Some of those women are also in World Team Tennis, but Albanese has more than held her own. That’s been impressive to Breakers Coach Trevor Kronemann, who has said the women’s matches are the most important in WTT.

It’s in those matches where scores can usually be more lopsided, swinging the momentum. Albanese had a 5-0 women’s singles win on July 15 against St. Louis’ Jasmin Woehr, and her improvement is showing as the season goes along even as she’s bothered by a sore right ankle.

“The first part of the season we were dominated by the females of the other teams,” Kronemann said. “Our ladies are starting to get into it, starting to figure it out a little bit.”

Earlier in the season, he said he was impressed with Albanese’s mettle.

“Lauren’s obviously got some great potential,” Kronemann said. “She hits the ball very well. Fun to watch.”

For Albanese’s part, she’s having fun too, playing for the Breakers. And she’s extremely optimistic about her pro career.

“I want to keep improving and keep enjoying myself on the court,” Albanese said. “I think the results will come. I just want to play my hardest and compete. If I do that, I should have good results.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.