It’s rare when a second-round women’s match assigned to an outer court packs the stands at the U.S. Open, but for Shahar Peer, exceptions must be made.

Peer, the 19-year-old Israeli who has won three titles this year and halved her world ranking, gave a partisan crowd on Court 10 a lot to cheer about yesterday as she defeated Martina Muller of Germany, 6–1, 5–7, 6–2. Her intensity and grit decided the outcome on a day when her tennis was a little tentative.

“It’s unbelievable to play here with this crowd, because they are all for me,” Peer said. “I hope next round will be more and more.”

Peer was raised in Macabim, Israel, and began playing tennis at age six. Last year, she completed her mandatory military training. Though she discovered that she had a talent for shooting rifles — she ranked fourth in her class — her military duties, as an athlete, are limited to office work when she is at home.

Peer is not one to talk politics or world affairs, in part because such questions arise whenever she gives an interview. Yesterday, however, she agreed to speak a little about the war with Lebanon and its effect on her family.

“My cousin was down very deep inside Lebanon,” she said. “But like I always said, you have to keep living your life. Now I’m really happy everything is finished, and it’s over, so I hope it will keep quiet.” She promptly rapped her fist twice on the wooden table for good luck.

Despite her impressive results this year, one gets the sense that Peer is just getting accustomed to the professional ranks. Earlier in the year, she split with her coach of six years, Oded Ya’akov, and took on Adam Peterson, the former coach of Lindsay Davenport. The collaboration produced two clay court titles, in Prague and Istanbul, but Peer ended the relationship after Wimbledon, where she lost in the second round. She said there were no hard feelings.

“Sometimes it was working, sometimes not,” Peer said. “I think for me, it was more important to have an Israeli coach, that’s what I found out. The mentality and everything is very important for me. First thing is the language, and second thing is understanding. I feel more comfortable and it is more easy for me.”

Her new coach, Oded Tieg, 29, played singles for the University of Oregon from 1999 to 2003. In Palm Springs prior to the Open, Peer worked out with Jose Higueras, who coached former world no. 1 Jim Courier, and she plans to return there when she is finished. She said Higueras will be her chief mentor, but Tieg, who watched from the stands yesterday, handles the day-to-day teaching and travels to tournaments.

“I’ve known her since she was a kid, we used to play a little bit,” Tieg said. “Israel is a small country, everybody knows everyone in the tennis world.”

Tieg offered a forthright critique of Peer’s performance.

“She played good in the beginning,” he said. “The serve was terrible. We work a lot on it. Today wasn’t so great. We’re going to keep working until it gets better.”

Though Peer’s tennis has its lapses, her energy and tenacity do not — in many ways, her determination and sense of purpose remind one of Maria Sharapova. Peer is not as large as the tour’s biggest hitters (5-foot-7, 132 pounds) but her groundstrokes are fierce (the twist of her two-handed backhand routinely causes her shoulders to turn 180 degrees, leaving her looking like she has taken her racket back for a forehand). Peer turns her back to the net in between points and bounces side to side while she fiddles with her strings. When she faces the court to return serve, she usually slaps her left thigh. In the third set yesterday, as she recovered from 0–40 down on her serve to take a 3–1 lead, she often shouted “C’mon!” and pounded her chest with her fist after hitting winners.

“She’s very intense, outside of the court as well,” Tieg said. “She works out, she’s very fit. She just needs to keep working hard, and you know she’s young, so good things can happen, that’s what I believe.”

At the moment, Peer is ranked no. 22 in the world. She reached the third round of the U.S. Open last year and has never gotten past the fourth round at a Grand Slam, though she came close at the French Open this year when she lost to Martina Hingis in three sets (she next faces Francesca Schiavone, a steady and supremely fit Italian who is seeded no. 14). Asked what it would take for her to crack the top 10 — something no Israeli woman has ever done — Peer suggested patience.

“I just got into the Top 25,” she said. “Slowly, slowly for me. I have to improve a lot of things. I’m ready for that. I already improve a lot of things. I’m going to keep working.”