By Liza Horan, Editor

New York—If you don't know Olga Poutchkova yet, give it some time. Not only has she reached two finals on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour lately, but the No. 38 player has posted wins over Top-20 players Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic. One year ago, the 19-year old had just broken the Top-200 to finish the year at No. 197. At the rate she's going, Poutchkova could become fifth Russian inside the Top-10—or the sixth if Dinara Safina cracks the code.

But Poutchkova's tennis exploits may not be the means to her gaining household-name status. That trail may be blazed by scouts and coaches in another competitive realm: Fashion.

See, Olga is the newest face to sign with Elite Model Management.

"As an agent, I've been on the lookout for a tennis player, and most of them are locked up with our competition," Elite Creative Director Conor Kennedy, whose headquarters is just five blocks away from the TENNISWIRE.org office in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, told me today. "It's just finding the right combination of looks, personality and game."

And Kennedy knows game. He's a "good recreational player" who agrees that trying to play in Manhattan is a "nightmare" due to lack of courts and high costs, so he occasionally traipses up to the Bronx...where Poutchkova happens to be training this winter. But he discovered his newest acquisition in Florida.

"I was actually playing tennis in Bradenton, and a friend-of-a-friend told me about her," said Kennedy, who then met the player and her coach. "That was two years ago. We were waiting for her to come into her own as a player."

So the time is right, and Kennedy said Poutchkova's attitude is right, too. She's a driven player aiming to succeed on court, and if she can pick up some fashion endorsements and editorial shoots, all the better.

"Tennis is a star-making sport," Kennedy said. "It's global—like fashion—and has great crossover potential."

Let's hope Poutchkova's star continues to rise in the rankings, and on billboards across town. It would be another win-win-win.