British tennis supporters may be becoming blas� about Tim Henman reaching another semi-final, but in the women's game it is a different story.

Or is it?

The future looks bright, and equally entertaining, in the hands of Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong.

The pair each needed three sets to reach the quarter-finals of the girls' singles at Wimbledon and were taken the distance again as they won through to the semi-finals.

And in a further boost for home supporters, they are in opposite sides of the draw.

Baltacha has tasted the women's draw as well

The possibility of an all-British final is looming large on the horizon, although at stages of their roller-coaster quarter-final matches that seemed distinctly implausible.

Baltacha, who was a first round loser in the main draw, finally won through 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 9-7.

And her fellow 17-year-old experienced an equally traumatic and dramatic 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 victory.

"I'm not making it easy for myself but at least I've managed to get through," Keothavong said after her match, with her right thigh strapped with an ice pack.

"I'm certainly not 100%. I'm struggling movement wise and with pushing off, but there's nothing I can do about it."

The ninth seed has been carrying the injury for two days but "gutsed" her way through a match in which she twice had to break her opponent, Anna Bastrikova, to stay in the tournament in a see-saw of a second set when some nerves set in.

Confidence

And in the third, after failing to kill two match points, Keothavong had to break again before winning at the third attempt.

Keothavong, whose family hail from Laos, will play another Russian, Dinara Safina, for a place in the final.

But the ninth seed is confident she can get the better of Marat Safin's 15-year-old sister.

"She's tall and strong and I've never played her before," she says of the 15th seed.

"But I've got to go in feeling confident and be as positive as I can - it's been a good run.

"She's had a fair bit of experience and has been around a while whilst I've been concentrating on my senior ranking."

Keothavong is hoping the experience of playing tournaments on the seniors tour will help her as it did Baltacha.

The Scot, who came to Britain when her Ukrainian father Sergei joined Ipswich Town, used every trick in the book as her quarter-final against the number four seed Svetlana Kuznetsova threatened to run away from her.

Keothavong celebrates her win

Baltacha, seeded sixth, had looked more than comfortable, but after losing the second set tie-break, she was broken and trailing.

"At 4-1 down there should be no way back but I just tried to slow her down and stay positive.

"She started so well in the third and I couldn't even see some of her shots, let alone cope with them.

"But she's a year younger than me and I thought maybe she might get uptight and nervous and give me some chances.

Kuznetzova did and Baltacha pounced.

She backed up her powerful serve, which was exceeding 110mph at times, with some scrambling returns.

Her objections to some line calls were almost as stinging, but the self-confessed fiery red-head was only trying another tactic to slow her opponent down, before wearing her down and coming through 9-7 in the decider.

Baltacha takes a realistic and long term view of her success and is just enjoying the moment and giving "100%".

Battle weary

And she hopes that will continue in her semi-final against Indonesia's Angelique Widjaja, the eighth seed.

"I played her a year ago and lost two-and-two - but a lot changes in a year and I'm staying positive," Baltacha says of her next opponent.

A lot can happen in a year and a lot can happen in a match as Baltacha and Keovathong have shown.

The prize and the crowds will be bigger, and the thrills and the spills will no doubt continue, as long as the battle weary Brits have rested their aching limbs after their recent trials.