Russia is turning out some of the best young talents in the game, and the tide shows no signs of slowing down. Lina Krasnoroutskaya and Mikhail Youzhny were among the youthful Russians who surprised Wimbledon observers with fourth-round berths in the prestigious grass court event. And thanks in part to some impressive genes in the Safin and Krasnoroutskaya families, the Russian assault on pro tennis has only just begun.

Lina K. on her way

Lina Krasnoroutskaya may be the bane of non-Russian television commentators because of her lengthy last name. But soon she should become such a familiar face in the tennis elite that her name will be rolling effortlessly off the tongues of the media around the world.

Krasnoroutskaya has reached the round of sixteen at Wimbledon, impressively weaving her way through the part of the draw left wide open by the shocking defeat of Martina Hingis in the first round. This achievement comes just after a fine French Open showing, where the young Russian surprised the likes of Nathalie Tauziat and Silvia Farina Elia on the way to a quarterfinal appearance. Overwhelmed by the occasion in the Paris quarterfinal, she turned in an error-filled performance and lost a one-sided dec ision to Belgium's brilliant young Justine Hénin. But the statement had been made.

This fast-rising 17-year-old was born in the Ukraine, but her family moved to Obninsk in Western Russia when Lina was six. Krasnoroutskaya was schooled in the art of tennis by her mother Marina, a tennis coach, and in the last year been getting coaching help from recently-retired Latvian pro Larisa Neiland. The youngster is presently trying to juggle the demands of a young tennis professional with high school, which she hopes to finish this year.

Krasnoroutskaya established herself as a girl to watch in 1999. As a 15-year-old, she not only became the #1 junior in the world by winning the girls' title at the U.S. Open, she also won a minor ITF event in only her second pro tournament. Before the year was through Lina had already made an impression on the WTA tour by marching to the semifinals of her first tournament in Luxembourg. Recipient of a wild card there, she confirmed her talent with wins over veterans Magdalena Maleeva and Silvia Farina El ia, before finally bowing out to the now-retired Dominique van Roost in three sets.

The world's tennis press ? is there a more lecherous group in sports media? -- has quickly taken note of the slender teenager, including her name on top-ten tennis beauty lists and tacking adjectives such as "willowy" to their descriptions of the rising Russian star. While she does not systematically cultivate this type of attention to the extent of her compatriot Anna Kournikova, Krasnoroutskaya does appear to object to it. "Woman has to be a woman," she told the assembled Wimbledon scribes. "That's ni ce that we have a lot of beautiful girls playing. I know that, you know, somewhere like I'm on top places of the [beauty] ranking. But, you know, first thing for me, it's tennis."

And her tennis is improving by leaps and bounds. Building on the base of a hard-hitting baseline game, Krasnoroutskaya is developing a broader arsenal of finesse shots and net approaches. She has stated her goal is no less than #1, and in a couple of years we might see the talented and charismatic youngster battling for that honour.

And she will have plenty of Russian company in the elite. Nadia Petrova and Elena Bovina, for example, have already scored some fine wins on the circuit, and Petrova has joined Krasnoroutskaya in the second week of Wimbledon. Further down the road, we will be watching for a precocious new crop. Dinara Safina, Marat Safin's 15-year-old sister, has had excellent junior results and has already been a titlist at the ITF level of professional play. Bollettieri student Maria Sharapova won the prestigious Eddie Herr 16-and-under title in Florida last year, at the tender age of 13. The Russian invasion of the women's tour that started with Kournikova and has continued with Dementieva, Krasnoroutskaya and Petrova, it would seem, is continuing unabated.

Youzhny uses Wimbledon as his springboard

Given that Mikhail Youzhny is not a willowy female, it is a little harder to get background information on him. But the 18-year-old out of Moscow has been no less impressive than Krasnoroutskaya, reaching the round of sixteen on the men's side in only his second Grand Slam tournament. Youznhy has had a splendid first week in London, upsetting 2000 Wimbledon semifinalist Vladimir Voltchkov as well as French veterans Anthony Dupuis and Fabrice Santoro.

The 6'0" right-hander, unlike Lina, did not have a brilliant junior career. The highlight was at the 1999 Australian Open, where he lost the final to Kristian Pless of Denmark as the 9th seed. Shortly thereafter the teen turned pro, and at the tender age of 17 last year was a regular on the Challenger circuit, notably winning a clay court event in exotic Samarkand.

Youzhny's ATP breakthrough came late in the 2000 season. The beneficiary of a wild card in his hometown tournament in Moscow, the Russian lad swept past astonished veterans Fabrice Santoro and Thomas Johansson before barely losing, 7-6(2) 4-6 6-7(2), to Marc Rosset in the quarterfinal. Mikhail carried his fine play into this year, reaching the third round of his first-ever Grand Slam event in Melbourne. Other notable achievements leading up to his Wimbledon run were a round of sixteen at the Tennis Mast ers Series in Monte Carlo, and his triumph over a fellow teen prodigy, Andy Roddick, on grass in Nottingham.

The boom in Russian tennis is less prolific on the men's side than with the women, but there are analogies to be drawn. Interest was created by the excellent Yevgeny Kafelnikov, and continued with the rapid rise of Marat Safin last year. Teenage talents just starting out, such as Youzhny and early-season sensation Dmitry Tursunov, are adding depth.

Looking down the road, the brightest prospect might turn out to be the mirror image of Safin's talented sister Dinara. The world's most prestigious 14-and-under tournament is "Les Petits As", an event held every spring in the southern French city of Tarbes. The winner on the boys' side this year was a Russian lad named Alexander Krasnoroutski. Does that name look vaguely familiar? Yes, my friends, he is Lina Krasnoroutskaya's little brother.