She's only 11, but Anastasia's going to be a smash at tennis

Edinburgh's rising star has, aged ten, walked away with this summer's East of Scotland girls under-16 singles title at Craiglockhart

Requiring practice for my team's East League Division 5b relegation decider next week any opportunity was to be seized upon and Anastasia's father and coach, Andrei, agreed to set up the challenge.

After two (very) short sets, though, it was clear that regular outings and 42 years of experience playing in the East Leagues counted for nothing in such aspirational company.

The knock-up went well – but when play started it was Anastasia – who celebrated her 11th birthday after winning the under-16 title – who set the pace. Her two-handed ground strokes exposed this would-be late developer as a never-was, with every short-pitched return dispatched into the corner of the court for a winner.

Watching every rally was Andrei, just as he has done almost throughout Anastasia's brief career which, I discovered, is meticulously planned.

A Muscovite who came to Edinburgh to study for a PhD and remained to set up his own IT company, Andrei spotted potential in his daughter as a three-year-old, the age at which she played her first tournament using a sponge ball on a mini court.

"I got Anastasia hitting a few balls and when she started to hit them on the rise I knew her hand-eye co-ordination was good," recalled Andrei whose eight-year-old son, Alex, is also shaping as a future champion.

As she prepares to fly out this weekend with Great Britain's under-12 squad for tournaments in Italy and Spain, Anastasia is training three hours each weekday, except Friday, and almost double that shift at weekends.

"I know how hard the young Russian girls are training," says Andrei, a former international fencer whose chance to compete at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was ruined by a political boycott. He adds: "I know how sport works. You can't take it half-heartedly because too much effort from all parties is involved. If you want to become a good player it is OK – if you want to become a professional it is completely different.

"Sometimes on a Sunday or a Saturday she does not want to train that hard but you have to because other girls are doing it."

Vitally, Anastasia appears happy and content in her training and playing regime.

She says: "My dad was feeding me balls and I had a talent doing it. My dad thought I could make a good player. Sometimes I think when I train I want to go to the sofa and lie down but I know that would not be too good to progress my game."

I remark to Andrei that Andre Agassi tells in his autobiography of hitting 2500 shots every day in practice as an adolescent and Anastasia seems momentarily anxious. "How many balls do I hit in a day, dad?" she asks.

Clearly, though, Andrei has things mapped out amidst a suspicion that winning the East under-16s has let the genie out of the bottle because, until then, progress had been quiet and unobtrusive, notwithstanding Anastasia's win in a European under-11 tournament this year and the British under-12 Masters in 2009.

Such abilities couldn't go unnoticed for ever and Andrei reveals his planning, saying: "We could base her schedule around winning ties and ranking points but that doesn't help long-term because she is mostly playing in the older age-groups to make her stronger. Results won't become important until Anastasia is 15 or 16."

How does Anastasia see her goal? "I want to be a professional player. That is my dream" she says before returning to the court.