Bogdanovic has the look of a future champion

Alex Bogdanovic, the 17-year-old revelation of the National Championships, is due to play Arvind Parmar, six years his senior, in the men's singles semi-finals today. The winner will play either Lee Childs, the 19-year-old defending champion, or Barry Cowan, 27, who took Pete Sampras to five sets at Wimbledon.

So there is a sign of life after Tim 'n' Greg. But what about the British women? The big name here is Jo Durie, who once rose to No 5 in the world rankings and now assists in coaching two of the brighter prospects, Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong. Whether these 18-year-olds progress to the point of being known collectively as Elena 'n' Anne remains to be seen.

Victoria Davies, 29, beat Baltacha in the quarter-finals yesterday and is due to play Keothavong in today's semi-finals. Davies and some of her compatriots became so frustrated by the lack of attention their efforts attracted that they launched a website, gbtennisgirls.com. "There's not much about women's sport in the media," she said. "Most people would not know what the British No 1 looks like."

The British No 1 looks like Julie Pullin, a slim, fair-haired 25-year-old from Sussex who has twice won the Nationals, in 1996 and 1998, and is a semi-finalist today. Pullin plays Hannah Collin, 19, who won the title in 1999.

Baltacha fell 6-2, 7-6 to Davies, losing two set points, the second a double fault. "She was a better player than me today," Baltacha said. "I have still got to do a lot of hard work. I have got to be more patient."

Keothavong had reason to be encouraged by the manner of her quarter-final win against Lucy Ahl, the second seed, 7-6, 6-3. The athletic Middlesex player won a highly-competitive first set tie-break, 12-10. "I had never played Lucy before, but I went into the match feeling I had a chance," she said.

Smiling at the mention of Britain's leading men, Henman and Rusedski, Keothavong acknowledged that they deserved their headlines. "It is not easy studying and playing tennis at the same time," she said. "Only a few girls can do both. In the men's game, Tim and Greg have been in the top 100 a long time. We need the women players to be at that standard."

She found it "amusing" that Baltacha and herself had become the focus of promise in the British women's game. "Sure, myself and Elena are good tennis players, but there are plenty of girls our age who are doing better than us. In this country, the players just haven't been coming through."

The same can be said of the British men's game, although Bogdanovic, a semi-finalist in the junior event at the United States Open, may have the style and the attitude to break the mould. Having beaten Martin Lee, the top seed here, 7-5, 6-0, Bogdanovic's superior backcourt game and brilliant backhand accounted for James Nelson, of Newcastle, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, in the quarter-finals.

"I was pretty pleased with that performance," Bogdanovic said. "James had good tactics against me, playing serve and volley. Every match is different, and I know I have to work on my own serve and volley.

"If I find myself struggling from the back, I need to be able to adapt. The best thing about my coach [Argentina's Tito Vasquez] is that he is challenging. He gives me goals to improve my game."

Bogdanovic has done plenty of challenging himself these past few days.