Saturday 19 November 2011

Anastasia Myskina

 Anastasia Myskina Biography
Myskina turned professional in 1998, the year in which she broke into the WTA top 500.
1999 - In only her second Tour main draw in Palermo, won her first WTA title. Made her debut in Grand Slam play at the US Open, and in Fed Cup (playing doubles).
2000 - Scored first career Top 20 victory over No.17 Barbara Schett en route to Sopot semifinal. Debuted at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, played Sydney Olympics. Reached first Tier I quarterfinal in Zurich (lost to world No.1 Martina Hingis).
2001 - The first half of the season was plagued by injury that forced Myskina to miss the Australian Open. As a result she fell out of the Top 100 World Rankings. Solid indoors performance; made it to the quarterfinals in Leipzig (became the first Russian to beat Anna Kournikova) and to the semifinals in Moscow (first career Tier I SF).
2002 - A breakthrough season. Scored her first Top 10 win over defending champion Jelena Dokic in Rome (entered Top 20 afterwards); reached back-to-back grass-court finals in Birmingham and Eastbourne (rose to No.15 in the rankings); won first Tier II title in Bahia; another runner-up finish in Leipzig confirmed her spot in WTA Tour Championships; finished the season within Top 15 for the first time.
2003 - Reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in Melbourne Park. After claiming the title in Doha (defeated Elena Likhovtseva in the first all-Russian final in WTA history) she cracked the Top 10. Established her place among the game elite with a win in Sarasota. Mediocre results during the summer season were followed by a quarterfinal appearance at the US Open, back-to-back titles in Leipzig (defeating No.1 Kim Clijsters and No.2 Justine Henin-Hardenne) and Moscow (first Tier I title; became the first Russian woman to win Kremlin Cup), and finals in Philadelphia. Qualified for the Tour Championships. Earned more than $1 million in prize money and finished the year in the Top 10 for the first time in her career.
2004 - Best season to date, highlighted by a Grand Slam win at the French Open (saved match-points in the fourth round against Svetlana Kuznetsova, then beat past World Number 1s Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati as well as compatriot Elena Dementieva in an historic all-Russian Grand Slam final). Became first female Russian to win a Grand Slam singles title. Earlier in the year she defended her Doha crown (afterwards breaking into the Top 5 - first female Russian to achieve that feat). Followed her win in Paris she rose to No.3 in the rankings. Reached final in San Diego (snapped Maria Sharapova’s 14-match winning streak that included Wimbledon and beat Vera Zvonareva 17-15 in a third set tie-break, saving 9 match-points, winning the longest final set tie-break in WTA Tour history). Lost Athens Olympics semifinal to Henin-Hardenne having led 5-1 in the final set. Rose to a career-high No.2 in the rankings. Recovered from the tough loss to win Kremlin Cup for the second straight year (beat No.2 Lindsay Davenport for the first time in 5 meetings en route). Finished on the top of her group at the Tour Championships (scored her second win over a world No.1 by again beating Davenport) but lost in the semis to the eventual champion Sharapova. Led Russia to its first Fed Cup title winning 8 out of 9 matches played (won all 3 matches in the final). Finished the season as world No.3 (career-best year-end rank for a female Russian), won over $2 millions in prize money, scored ten Top 10 wins during the season. Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
    Anastasia Myskina vs Justine Henin 2003 Leipzig Highlights
Jennifer Capriati vs Anastasia Myskina 2004 RG Highlights

No comments:

Post a Comment