The 2008 tennis season looked to be a platform upon which some of the WTA Tour’s young, up-and-coming starlets would ascend into the women’s elite.

Now, this is very much a possibility in a year still in its infancy. Young players such as Agnes Szavay (Hungary), Victoria Azarenka (Belarus), Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) and Tamira Paszek (Austria) have demonstrated hunger and raw talent, already cementing themselves as dangerous threats to those in the upper reaches of the WTA rankings.

In fact, as I write, fellow youngster Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) finds herself in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, fresh off a string of commanding victories over established opponents including No. 2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

'The Australian Open has long been a platform for breakthrough performances'

However, it is over on the men’s side, where little has been said of any up-and-coming talent, that two unheralded players - Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Croatian Marin Cilic - remain alive in the singles draw.

As part of a men’s game seemingly defined by its Holy Trinity of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and, of course, Roger Federer, these fresh faces could inject some diversity and add some drama in the latter rounds of tournaments.

The 22-year-old Tsonga has been opening eyes in the tennis community with strong Grand Slam showings in the latter part of 2007, reaching the round of 16 at Wimbledon and battling his way through to the third round of the U.S. Open. Currently competing Down Under at his fifth career Slam, J-Dub (as he is known possibly only to me) has earned a personal-best quarter-final appearance thanks to impressive victories over No. 8 seed Richard Gasquet and No. 9 Andy Murray, among others.
 
The energetic Muhammad Ali clone has not exactly come out of nowhere in his rise towards ATP supremacy. He enjoyed a junior career which included a 2003 U.S. Open boys’ title and an appearance in the semis of each of the three other majors. Since joining the pro ranks, Tsonga has earned a bevy of wins over top-ranked opponents, counting former No. 1 players Carlos Moya and Lleyton Hewitt among his victims.
 
Cilic has been rising fast of late but his progress was halted at the fourth round stage when he went down to a straight sets defeat at the hands of American James Blake. But the 19-year-old secured a spot among the final 16 men in the event with a convincing triumph over No. 7 Fernando Gonzalez, a finalist at the Open last year.