Abstract. By means of the Density Matrix Renormalization Group technique, we have studied the region where XXZ-like behavior is most likely to emerge within the phase diagram of the F-AF anisotropic extended (J − J ) Heisenberg chain. We have analyzed, in great detail, the equal-time two-spin correlation functions, both in-and out-of-plane, as functions of the distance (and momentum). Then, we have extracted, through an accurate fitting procedure, the exponents of the asymptotic power-law decay of the spatial correlations. We have used the exact solution of XXZ model (J = 0) to benchmark our results, which clearly show the expected agreement. A critical value of J has been found where the relevant power-law decay exponent is independent of the in-plane nearest-neighbor coupling.