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Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Andreyevna Myskina; Russian (ah-nass-tah-SEE-ya
MUYSS-kee-nah) (born July 8, 1981, Moscow, Russia) is a professional tennis
player from Russia.
Tennis career
Myskina turned professional in 1998, the year in which she
broke into the WTA top 500. The very next year, she entered the top 100 and
went on to end 2002 in the top 20 and 2003 in the top 10.
Myskina has won 10 WTA tour singles titles in her career.
In 2004 she won the French Open, her first grand slam. She routed fellow
Russian Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-1 in the final to become the first Russian
woman to win a grand slam singles event. She led the Russian team to its
first Fed Cup title in a dramatic final against France in the same year.
Myskina, who has won over 4 million in career prize money,
reached a career high as the World No. 2 on September 13, 2004. This position
is the highest of any female Russian tennis player in history at the time
(in August 2005 Maria Sharapova would become the first ever Russian World
No. 1). Myskina finished the 2004 season as world's #3 and was named the
2004 ITF world champion.
In August 2004, she filed an 8 million USD lawsuit against
the men's magazine GQ for allowing her topless photographs to appear in a
Russian magazine Medved without her consent. But in July 2005, a judge ruled
that she could not prevent the photographer from distributing the photos
because she had signed a release. Myskina had claimed that she did not understand
the photo release form and that she was not fluent in English at the time.
On June 19, 2005 U.S District Judge Michael Mukasey ruled
that Anastasia Myskina can't stop the distribution of her topless photos
taken in 2002. A then 20 year old Myskina said she allowed the photographer
to take personal photos which were never to be released.
By losing her opening match at the French Open 2005 against
Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (4-6, 6-4, 0-6), she became the first woman in the
history of the event to lose as a defending champion in the first round.
It soon transpired that the reason for Myskina's relatively
poor 2005 results was her mother was suffering from cancer in Moscow while
Myskina was travelling on the WTA Tour.
Myskina won her 300th career match against Jelena Jankovic
en route to her first Wimbledon quarterfinal, which included stunning victories
over Jankovic in three tough sets, as well as her compatriot and friend Elena
Dementieva. Myskina lost to Amelie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals, halting
an unexpectedly successful run, indicating she was now once again on the
rise.
Following her quarterfinal rebound at Wimbledon after a devastating
first half of the season, Myskina beat the reigning Wimbledon champion Venus
Williams in three sets, 5-7 6-4 6-2. The win gave Russia the first point
in the Fed Cup semifinal match against the USA. Myskina followed with a 6-2,
6-4 victory over World #60 Jill Craybas to give Russia its first victory
over the USA in Fed Cup that propelled the reigning champions, Russia, to
the final against France.
Myskina reaches her first Tour final in 2005 at the Nordic
Light Open in Stockholm, losing to World #62 Katarina Srebotnik 7-5 6-2 due
to numerous forehand errors and sloppy serving. Myskina improves her 2005
Singles Win-Loss record to 19-13.Myskina lost in the third round at the US
Open to Elena Likhovtseva 6-0 3-6 6-7 after having five matchponts and winning
103 total points to Likhovtseva 93.
Looking to rebound from a disappointing US Open, Myskina
goes into the 2005 Fed Cup finals against France as the #2 of the Russian
team (behind Elena Dementieva). She loses both of her singles matches in
the finals, including a match vs. Mary Pierce, in which she leads 6-4, 4-1.
Fortunately for Myskina and Russia, Elena Dementieva was the hero of the
finals this year, winning 3 out of 3 rubbers in the final against France,
giving Russia the title. Myskina recovered nicely, sweeping Kolkata by winning
doubles and singles. The wins gave Myskina her first titles of the year.
Myskina reaches the quarterfinals in Filderstadt, losing
to Lindsay Davenport for the second straight year. Pairing with Daniela Hantuchová
she won her second doubles title of the year.
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