Is British women's tennis on the up?

The world of British men's tennis has had Jeremy Bates, Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Andy Murray to cheer on over the last 20 years or so but there has been somewhat of a drought on the women's side.
Times could be changing now, and more eyes arebe focussing on a new breed of Brit girls coming through in world tennis. The likes of Elena Baltacha have plugged away for years and in 2010 she won the Dow Corning Tennis Classic in Michigan, the first ITF win over her career and fellow player Katie O'Brien has risen to a career-best world ranking.
Baltacha and O'Brien both achieved some form of success in ensuring that, for the first time since 1991, two British women reached the second round of the Australian Open. The tennis betting odds suggest no British woman will win a Grand Slam anytime soon, but things are improving.
Former British number one woman Anne Keothavong has had a less successful year so far, but she did miss six months with a serious knee injury.
However, it is the promise of junior Grand Slam champions Laura Robson and Heather Watson which mean the female half of British tennis may soon be taking as many headlines of their male counterparts.
US Open junior champion Watson most recently won the ITF tournament in Wrexham without losing a set, beating a former world top 30 player Sania Mirza in the final.
After the match the 18-year-old said: "I just told myself I had nothing to lose because she's been ranked 27 in the world before and she is a really good player."
Just like Watson, Robson has been developing and improving throughout 2010, playing with Murray in the Hopman Cup, competing in the Australian Open and Wimbledon, while also qualifying for a number of top events.
With these two teenagers coming on in leaps and bounds, and the more established British female players continuing to show real determination, women's tennis in this country is definitely on the up.
The US Open betting suggests it's highly unlikely any player will make an impact there, but you never know.
While it is unlikely that any British women will mirror Murray and make it to number four in the world, they should at least ensure next summer there is no repeat of the miserable Wimbledon which saw no Brit bar Murray make it past day two of the tournament.