Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova burst on to the scene with a stunning performance at Indian Wells - we've got the low-down on the up-and-coming Russian.

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Full name: Anastasia Sergeyevna Pavlyuchenkova

Nationality: Russian

Age: 17 (DOB: July 3 1991)

World Ranking: 27

Career highlights: Beat Jelena Jankovic and Agnieska Radwanska en-route to the semi-finals of Indian Wells in March 2009. Only played a handful of WTA tournaments in 2008, but made quarter-finals in Palermo and Toyko and progressed to the third round at Wimbledon, beating Alize Cornet on the way. Enjoyed a stellar junior career: she won the 2006 junior Australian and US Opens as well as finishing as runner-up at Roland Garros; she also won the 2007 junior Australian Open.

General: Yet another product of Russia's seemingly-endless production line of superb new players, Pavlyuchenkova is the youngest, freshest and perhaps the most exciting prospect of the lot. She's good natured and good humoured, but fiercely ambitious: her stated ambition when she graduated to the senior ranks was to achieve at the top level what she achieved in juniors. "Now, I'm still thinking about what I said," she said at Indian Wells. "I still believe in it." That's big talk coming from a triple junior Grand Slam winner.

Strengths: For a player who is still growing, she's got impressive levels of power - particularly with her well-timed serve. Terrific ability with volleying makes you wish she would come to the net more often, but instead she prefers to sit back on the baseline and attempt to clobber forehand winners down the line. It's easy to see why she relies on the tactic: blessed with an innate ability to smack the ball out of the middle of the racquet, she gets Lindsey Daveport-esque power from her ground strokes, as she demonstrated in style with her Indian Wells demolition of Jankovic. Also blessed with a wonderful attitude: bags of good humour and chirpiness, never seems to get down on herself, and after beating Jankovic at Indian Wells was doubly determined to keep on going through the draw to ensure that people wouldn't just put it down to the world number three going through a rough patch.

Weakesses: Needs to think about her footwork and speed around the court. Watching her dominate a weaker opponent you're staggered at her superb, powerful shotmaking; but when she comes up against an equal force that relative lack of mobility starts looking like a glaring flaw. Her game against Venus Williams in Dubai was a case in point: shot-wise she wasn't all that far away from Williams, but the eventual champion simply tore her apart with her speed and tenacity around the court, at times leaving Pavlyuchenkova rooted to the spot. You almost wonder if she was too good, too young, and that it's only since she came into the seniors that she's facing proper competition.

Prospects: The skill is there, the attitude is there, the power is there... and she's got all the time she needs to work on those flaws and turn herself into a top player. It might be a bit early for her just yet, but it's impossible to think of another 17-year-old out there with more potential than this one.

Personal: Describes herself as "funny, unusual and interesting", and her engaging personality is reflected in her interests. Loves watching Ben Stiller comedies and Johnny Depp films, going shopping or ice skating with her friends as well as going dancing and listening to R&B music. Based in France, where she lives and trains at Patrick Mouratoglou's academy - and attends school! Before moving to France she was coached by her mother and father, Sergey and Marina, who first thrust a tennis racquet into her hands when she was six years old. Clay is her favourite service, yet she describes playing at Wimbledon as the most memorable moment of her career.

Pavyluchenkova's is in action again in Miami from Wednesday. Watch WTA Miami on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe. Or watch the action on British Eurosport, available in the UK on Sky channel 410 and Virgin Media channel 521, or British Eurosport 2, available on Sky 411 and Virgin Media 525.