On Friday, Russia's No. 1 took on world No. 1 Lindsey Davenport of the United States.
Each of the players confidently held their serve in the first set whose fate was settled in a tense tie-breaker.
The set's final game reached its climax when the scoreboard registered a 5-5 balance, with Davenport serving. Myskina returned the American's services with a powerful stroke, forcing Davenport to fault. Myskina won a set point as a result, served for the set and convincingly won the final point and the first set 7-6 (7-5).
A loss in the first set demoralized Davenport and she failed to hold her serve in the first three games of the next set. As a result, Myskina led 3-0.
However, the American managed to rally back, first breaking Myskina in the fourth set and then winning her serve in the fifth. Her seemed to have reversed her losing trend, bringing the score to 3-2. The developments revived memories of Myskina's first match at the tournament against Serena Williams when the Russian won the first set and led 3-0 in the second but failed to hold the lead and lost eight games in a row. Eventually, she lost the whole match.
Fortunately for Russian fans, Myskina managed to keep her poise and did not let the situation follow the same track again. She succeeded in keeping her lead to the end of the set, winning the match 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Thanks to this win, Myskina remains a contender for qualifying to the next round from the Red Group of the tournament. Ironically, it is Davenport who can still block her way to the semi-finals of this competition.
