Austria has had its fair share of tennis glory through the years, especially in the men's game, where Thomas Muster won more than 600 matches in his career, becames his country's first world No. 1 player and won an astonishing 44 career titles including the French Open in 1995. He was, a little over a decade ago,  king of the clay courts, before Rafael Nadal was even a teenager!

The Austrian women have also had their fair share of success. Barbara Schett and Barbara Paulus had brief spells in the WTA tour top 10 and Judith Wiesner was one of the game's most consistent performers in the early 90s. However none of these women have progressed in their careers to challenge for major honours, until now. Austria have a new potential star.

Still only 17 years of age, Tamira Paszek has a big future in the women's game. Where most girls her age are still playing on the junior circuit, Paszek has quickly made a name for herself among the world's elite and already has a career high of number 35.

'Where most girls her age are still playing on the junior circuit, Paszek has quickly made a name for herself among the world's elite'


In her first few months on the main WTA tour, Paszek qualified for the Portoroz Open in Slovenia. Although only a small event compared to some tournaments, Paszek showed her confidence by winning three qualifying rounds and then going all the way to the final which she won, defeating top 100 players Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic, Emilie Loit of France and, in the final, Marie Eleni Camerin of Italy. This was an outstading achievement not only because it was only her third WTA tour but that she had to win eight matches in a week at only 16 years of age.

By the end of 2006, Paszek was just outside the world top 150 and in January of that year she started to achieve even greater things. Firstly, in her first Grand Slam she managed to get through three qualifying matches and win her first round against former world number 37 Severine Bremond of France before losing to the hugely experienced Russian Vera Zvonereva.

In her next tournament Paszek again qualified and reached the last 16 in Dubai, defeating Katerina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the first round. In the second  round the Austrian came up against world No. 1 Justine Henin. Henin was in trouble in the match until Paszek lost her nerve and concentration eventually falling 4-6 7-5 6-1, but showing she was developing nicely. Paszek continued her rise up the rankings by steadily winning more and more matches on the tour and consistently defeating top 100 players and only losing to top 20 players such as Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.

When Wimbledon came around at the end of June, Pazsek was just outside the world top 50 and had therefore direct entry into the grass court event. Pazsek was a star. After an easy first round win she came up against the French world No. 17 Tatiana Golovin, another bright prospect in the women's game. The tiny Austrian showed great willpower, defeating her seeded opponent 6-2 3-6 6-1 and went on to a third round tie again world No. 13 and vastly experienced Elena Dementieva of Russia.

After losing the first set anyone could have forgave Paszek if she had just givin up, but she did the exact opposite and used her determination to rattle the Russian eventually winning in three sets. Paszek lost in the next round to world No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova, but the youngster had reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in her first attempt and looks set to do even better in 2008.

In the last Grand Slam of the season, Paszek again reached the fourth round with excellent wins against Patty Schynder of Switzerland and Francesca Schiavone of Italy, rounding of a great season of development for the Austrian junior. She is now able to enter big tournaments without the need to qualify and being able to save her energy and fight for bigger matches.

In 2008 she has already reached the semi-finals in Auckland and had an almighty tussle in the Austrlian Open first round against world No. 4 Jelena Jankovic losing 12-10 in the final set, showing she is ready for an even better year on the WTA circuit.