Latent heat: Laura Robson

Since she won Wimbledon juniors title in 2008 being just 14 years old, Laura Robson got all the attention from British media, always willing to discover potential champions from their country.


Late in 2008 she made her WTA debut in Luxembourg, taking a set from Top-50 Iveta Benesova. In 2009 she made her Grand Slam debut in Wimbledon and took a set from former Top-5 Daniela Hantuchova, who managed to comeback and win the match. After that she was just a step of going through the qualies in the US Open and Luxembourg, where she got her best victory defeating WTA #76 Julia Goerges.


This week Robson's popularity has increased as she has represented Great Britain in the Hopman Cup. Despite losing all her matches in the round robin, Robson showed that she can compete with the top players, taking a set from WTA #52 Shvedova and having a close match with WTA #22 Sabine Lisicki. Nevertheless Great Britain progressed to the final with some thrilling victories in the mixed doubles matches where Robson teamed up with Andy Murray, and this awoke the attention of the British media again. In the final Robson upsetted WTA #25 Maria Jose Martinez, but this wasn't enough to win the title as Murray lost his singles match and this time they were defeated in the mixed doubles.


15 year-old Robson has conquered the hearts of many fans this week, who describe her as cute and adorable. This week she will be competing at the Australian Open qualifying. Another chance to evaluate her potential.

Latent heat: Melanie Oudin

Although she had a remarkable junior career reaching #2 in the junior rankings, 17 years old American Melanie Oudin got into the spotlight last Wimbledon reaching the Last-16 round as qualifier after upsetting former WTA #1 and 6th seed Jelena Jankovic. She came back from a set down in all her three Main Draw matches against Bammer, Shvedova and Jankovic.


Now in the US Open she is delighting American crowd with an even more amazing run. After sweeping promising Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the 1st round, Oudin has consecutively upsetted WTA #4 Elena Dementieva, former WTA #1 Maria Sharapova and 13th seed Nadia Petrova to get her place in the quarter-finals. There she will try to extend her run upsetting WTA #8 Caroline Wozniacki. Oudin already counts with the suppport of the local crowd, who dreams with a final between the little "Legend Killer" and Serena Williams.


Only 1.68m tall, Oudin's gamestyle differs from most of youngsters nowadays and she compensates her lack of power with a great variety of shots and her fighting spirit. American fans have finally found in this fresh blonde teenager a new hero to take over veterans Lindsay Davenport and Venus and Serena Williams.

Latent heat: Sorana Cirstea

1990-born Romanian Sorana Cirstea is showing a great progression in the last few years and is already one of the youngest players in WTA Top 50. In 2007 she made her breakthrough climbing from #348 to #106 in the WTA ranking, reaching the semifinals at Bali and reaching her first WTA final at Budapest. This season she has kept climbing on the rankings, combining very solid and regular results in WTA Tour with a few succesful appareances on big ITF tournaments, reaching the final in Bucharest, Cuneo and Athens. And now she has highlighted her season with her first WTA tile in Tashkent and her entry into WTA Top 40, reaching a career-high ranking at #39.


With a very varied gamestyle, she performs well in any surface and has got good results on hard, clay and even grass. She's got all it takes to become a big tennis star, including the looks, with a slight resemblance to Ana Ivanovic.

Latent heat: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

1991-born Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is one of the biggest prospects in women's tennis. She enjoyed a brilliant junior career highlighted by Grand Slam titles at 2006 Australian Open (being just 14 years old), 2006 US Open and 2007 Australian Open, one runner-up finish at 2006 Roland Garros and four Grand Slam doubles titles. She competed with girls one or even two years older than her, such as current WTA #11 Agnieszka Radwanska, WTA #17 Alize Cornet or WTA #30 Caroline Wozniacki.


But as her junior opponents started to collect good results in the pro circuit and climb in the rankings, she didn't suceed in going a level up and even her domination of the junior circuit was over. Her career seemed stuck and everyone feared that Anastasia was going to be another brilliant junior who fails in reaching the top level.

But on 2008 she has finally moved a step forward. First in the ITF circuit, where in March she captured the titles in Moscow and Minsk. In May she moved to WTA Tour and got to 2nd round as a qualifier in Fes, where she also captured her first WTA doubles title. Then she scored her first Grand Slam win in Roland Garros, where she reached the 2nd round as a qualifier, and even took a set from Top 25 and clay specialist Flavia Pennetta. And finally she has confirmed her progression in Wimbledon where, again going through the qualy, she has reached the 3rd round defeating Top 20 Alize Cornet and former Top 15 Na Li on her way.


She started the year ranked at #286 and next week she will break into the Top 100 for the first time in her career. Today Anastasia turns 17 and we wish that she keeps on climbing and reaching higher goals. In fact we are sure she will.

Latent heat: Petra Kvitova

Although she had just entered the Top 100, there were already big expectations around 18 years old Czech Petra Kvitova, and her breakthrough was just a matter of time.
She had already won some ITF titles and collected some good victories on WTA tournaments over Anabel Medina, Katerina Bondarenko, on Fed Cup over Shahar Peer and the most noticeable over Venus Williams in Memphis. But in Roland Garros 2008 she has finally got into the spotlight, reaching the 4th round and beating experimented players such as Morigami, Stosur and 12th seed Szavay on her way.


1.81 metres high and left handed, her powerful serve and forehand are her greatest weapons and her gamestyle reminds of Sharapova. If she gets some regularity, she definitively has the potential for reaching very high goals.

Latent heat: Tsvetana Pironkova

20 year old Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova has been considered one of the most promising players since she reached the Top 100 in 2005 being just 17 years old. Although in 2006 and 2007 she kept into the Top 100, her progression seemed to be stuck.
But last week she got back into the spotlight upsetting 1st seed and world's #2 Ana Ivanovic in the big Tier I of Rome. Pironkova went through the qualy and won 5 matches in a row, including victories over Ivanovic and Berlin's semifinalist Victoria Azarenka in the 3rd round to reach the quarters, where she lost to Anna Chakvetadze in 3 sets. With this result she broke into the Top 50 for the first time in her career, reaching a career-high ranking at #47.


And this week she's going to improve that career-high ranking again, as she has reached the semis in the WTA tournament in Istambul, where she has been defeated by 2nd seed Agnieszka Radwanska, again in 3 sets. She's yet to win a title and even to reach a WTA final, but it seems that promising Tsvetana is finally turning into a reality.

Latent heat: Victoria Azarenka

18yo Belarusian Victoria Azarenka is considered one of the biggest promises on women's tennis since 2005, when she captured Australian Open and US Open junior titles, as well as Roland Garros and Wimbledon junior doubles titles and was named ITF Junior World Girls Champion. Then she joined the WTA Tour and was slowly progressing till last year when she got into the Top 30 by reaching two finals (Estoril and Tashkent), Last 16 round in the US Open and getting and emotional win over Maria Sharapova in Moscow.


But this year, her goals look even bigger and she has turned into a more complete and dangerous player. Although she started the year reaching another final in Gold Coast, her results were not too good until two weeks ago, when she reached the 4th final of her career in Prague, which she lost to Vera Zvonareva. But this week she has got the best result of her career so far, reaching the semifinals of the big Tier I held in Berlin, defeating world's #8 Anna Chakvetadze en route. With this result she has broken into the Top 20 reaching a career-high ranking at #19.


Although her gamestyle is quite similar to Maria Sharapova's, with powerful groundstrokes, she has got her best results on clay. She has yet to win a title, but nobody doubts that she will get it soon.

You can watch Victoria's gallery here

Latent heat: Alize Cornet

1990-born French Alize Cornet gained some attention last season, when she climbed from #189 to #57 in the WTA ranking and won the Junior competition in Roland Garros.
On 2008 Alize had to confirm all the expectations. And she did as soon as she got into clay courts. In late February she reached her first WTA final ever in Acapulco. But her breakthrough has been in the american green clay season. In Amelia Island she reached the semis, defeating 9th seed Sybille Bammer and 13th seed Virginie Razzano on her way. And in the Tier I of Charleston she upsetted 16th seed Michaella Krajicek and 10th seed Agnes Szavay to reach the semis for the second week in a row, where she was defeated by Serena Williams.


What makes Alize different from the rest of upcoming young players is that her game is not based on power, but on talent. Her gamestyle is varied and smart so she's often compared to Martina Hingis. Also her look, sweet and childish, is different.
She's already ranked #33, but with the European clay season on view she's likely to break into the Top 30 soon. And as her game is the most suitable of the young players for clay courts, many French fans are thinking about having another French Champion at Roland Garros. But we will have to wait for that, maybe not too much...
You can watch her gallery here

Latent heat: Marina Erakovic

20 yo from New Zealand Marina Erakovic is probably the most outstanding newcomer in the WTA Tour in this 2008 season. She made her breakthrough early in the year when she reached the semifinals in Auckland, the WTA event held at her home town, where she defeated Vera Zvonareva. Later she focused on ITF events in Australia, winning 9 matches in a row, and getting a title and a runner-up place.
And she got all the attention when, after reaching the semifinals at Memphis as a qualifier, she became the first woman from New Zealand to break into the top 100 for over twenty years. And now she has confirmed her great season in the big Tier I of Miami, reaching the 3rd round and defeating Top 30 Michaella Krajicek on her way.


With a big serve and a powerful forehand, Marina is already one of the most popular sportswoman in New Zealand, and definitively one of the players to watch for the following years.
You can watch Marina's gallery here

Latent heat: Dominika Cibulkova

18 years old Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova is one of the most promising players on WTA Tour. She got into the spotlight in 2007, when she climbed more than 100 places in the ranking to reach the Top 50. But she had still to get a big win over a top player or a remarkable result in an important tournament to get more attention.


And she has done in 2008. In the first Tier I of the season, in Doha, she has reached the quarter finals. And what is more important, she got very convincing victories over top players Lucie Safarova (WTA #39), Patty Schnyder (WTA #12) and Venus Williams (WTA #7) in straight sets. There she was defeated by one of the best players in 2008 season so far, Agnieszka Radwanska, in a though match decided in the third set. With these results she has broken into the Top 40.


Furthermore, Dominika is considered by many fans as one of the hottest players. Although she's not very tall (only 161 centimeters), she has already done modelling and photoshoots. With remarkable blue eyes and a very sexy mouth, she's one of the prettiest faces on Tour.
You can watch her gallery here.

Latent heat: Yanina Wickmayer

After Kim Clijsters retirement, Belgian fans are looking for a young player that could take the relay when Justine Henin decides to quit. And they have found. Her name is Yanina Wickmayer. 17 yo Wickmayer was just a promising junior until July 2007. Then she got her first victory for the Belgian Fed Cup team defeating Zi Yan and got her first victory on the ITF Tour. But the best was still to come and between October and November Yanina reached ITF finals 4 weeks in a row, winning three titles and scoring and incredible 19-1 victory record. She climbed from #399 in July to #175 at year-end.


So there were high expectatives about her performance in 2008. And, although the beggining wasn't too good, as she failed to qualify for the Australian Open, it hasn't taken too long to confirm the expectatives and it was again defending Belgium in Fed Cup. She scored two big wins in Ukraine defeating local idols Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko, WTA #22 and #43 respectively, in straight sets. This week she received a WC in home tournament at Antwerp and she didn't dissappointed her Belgian fans and got her first victory in a WTA tournament main draw by defeating Chinese Shuai Peng 6/0 6/4. Top Ten Daniela Hantuchova send Yanina back to Earth on the 2nd round.


Belgian media has already has crowned her as the "Belgian Sharapova" and they resemble not only in their tall and slim figure, but also their game style and attitude is similar. Many people predicts she is a potential Top 10, but we can say she already is a WTA hottie.

Latent heat: Sabine Lisicki

This 18 year old German has been the greatest discovery in 2008 season so far. Another product of Nick Bolletieri's Academy, she already enjoyed a sensational year on 2007 int the ITF circuit and climbed from #497 to #198 in WTA rankings. But on 2008 she's ready to assault the WTA circuit, and the first attempt has been impressive.
On Australian Open she won 5 matches in a row going through the qualifying to the third round, including a big win over 16th seed Dinara Safina.


That victory was very important for Sabine, but just a few days later she scored an even more special victory. She defeated former #1 and leader of American team Lindsay Davenport 6/1 7/5 in Fed Cup, giving a 0-1 lead to her team. Unfortunately, that was the only point Germany won, but we are sure that is not going to be Sabine's last great victory on WTA Tour.

Latent heat: Caroline Wozniacki

There hasn't been any remarkable Danish player on WTA Tour history, but this may change soon as they have one of the most promising players nowadays.
Along with Tamira Paszek and Alize Cornet, Caroline Wozniacki is one of the most talented players of 1990 generation. She had a great junior career, highlighted on 2006 with a title in Wimbledon and runner-up in Australian Open. On 2007 she played with the big girls and achieved two 75,000$ ITF titles and semifinal in WTA Tokyo, climbing from #237 to #64 in WTA rank.


But this year she wants to step into the spot light and has started with a brilliant appareance on Australian Open, where she has reached Last 16 beating Gisela Dulko, 21st seed Alona Bondarenko and german newcomer Sabine Lisicki en route. There she lost to WTA #3 Ana Ivanovic.

Polish descent, Caroline is tall, blonde and blue eyed. She's got a good-girl look and is one of the cuttest girls on WTA Tour, so it is expected that her fanbase and popularity will growth as she keeps on climbing on the rankings.


You can check here photo gallery here

Latent heat: Marta Domachowska

The recent domination of women's tennis by russian players is encouraging girls from other eastern european countries to play tennis and so, along with Russia, Czech Republic and Slovakia, countries like Serbia (Ivanovic, Jankovic), Romania (Olaru, Cirstea, Gallovits), Hungary (Szavay), Bulgary (Pironkova, Karatantcheva), Belarus (Azarenka, Govortsova) and Ukraine (Bondarenko sisters, Vakulenko) are also developing a lot of young talents. With the Radwanska sisters and Marta Domachowska, Poland is not an exception.

1986-born Domachowska got a good junior career and reached the Top 100 in 2004. She was one of the most promising youngsters and started to climb the rankings slowly reaching a career-high of #37 at April 2006. But then she started a losing streak which took her down to #174 in June 2007. She even took a 2-month break to think and try to get her tennis back. She started to play smaller events in order to get some victories and some confidence.


And it seems it has worked, cause in Australian Open she has reached Last 16 as a qualifier, which means winning six matches in a row, including a win over 24th seed and Gold Coast winner Na Li. There she lost to Venus Williams, but with this result she will be back on Top 100. So we should count on her again.

Aside from tennis, Marta is also one of the hottest players on WTA Tour, you can check her gallery here

Latent heat: Tamira Paszek

The Australian Open started on Monday and it featured one of the most thrilling matches of the tournament ever. Seed #3 Jelena Jankovic saved three match points in a 2-6 6-2 12-10 win over Austrian Tamira Paszek, a marathon battle lasting three hours 10 minutes. Jankovic needed a large dose of luck to overcome Paszek. Check it by yourself:

In fact 17-year-old Paszek (WTA #39) is one of the most promising players of the WTA Tour. She was just 14 when she scored her first WTA main draw win. And in 2006 she clinched first WTA title in Portoroz with just 16 years old (7th youngest ever). Last year she reached Last 16 in both Wimbledon and US Open beating top players as Tatiana Golovin, Elena Dementieva, Patty Schnyder or Francesca Schiavone. And earlier this year she reached the semis in Auckland beating seed #2 Maria Kirilenko.


And aside from tennis, Tamira can also become very popular between male fans. Specially to the ones that prefer curvy shapes to the skinny figures of Sharapova, Hantuchova ond other beauty icons. Her massive boobs and plunging neckline was widely commented between the fans after her appareance on Australian Open.

Check out her photo gallery here