Myskina Wins Three to Edge France for Fed Cup Victory
Posted on November 29, 2004
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| Anastasia Myskina leads Russia to their first Fed Cup title. (WTA) |
The French team blew four set points at 6-5 in the first set, and a 3-0 lead in the tiebreak.
Myskina won both her singles and the doubles over the two-day final, on Sunday putting Russia ahead 2-1 after the first singles with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Nathalie Dechy.
16-year-old Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin kept France's hope alive by handing Svetlana Kuznetsova her second consecutive singles loss in the final, 6-4, 6-1 to even the tie at 2-2.
"It definitely feels really good," Golovin. "It was a good match and it proves I can beat the best players...I was watching Kuznetsova's match very carefully yesterday when she played Nathalie so I knew how she played."
Kuznetsova appeared devastated after recording her second loss of the final.
"I couldn't make right my unforced errors and the positive things from yesterday had gone," said Kuznetsova. "I didn't serve well and I didn't play the right tennis tactically. I should be showing a different kind of tennis, I should be demanding the terms. I need to play more consistently indoors."
After a jubilant on-court celebration following the doubles victory, Myskina said Russia's first Fed Cup win was better than winning the French Open.
"Here I have all my friends around me, and I'm definitely more happy here, right now," said Myskina, with a subtle dig at the absent Ameri-Russian Maria Sharapova. "Here it is for my team, and for my country."
Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev added the Fed Cup trophy to his Davis Cup championship win for Russia.
"It's hard to measure happiness so I don't know which of the two wins is more satisfying, but definitely this one was a lot more stressful," Tarpishchev said.
Captain Guy Forget summed up his experience in odd French fashion.
"We could even have won the doubles. It's painful to lose when you come that close," Forget said. "I wish we would have lost very easily -- it would have been less painful."
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