Myskina wins the Kremlin Cup

Anastasia Myskina (pronunciation guide: ah-nah-stah-SEE-yah MIS-kee-nah) beats Amélie Mauresmo 6-2, 6-3 to take the 2003 Kremlin Cup. It’s great when you’re blessed with an unsurpassable physique like the Williams sisters (a product of years of hard work), but it’s pretty clear superhuman physique as most understand it is not enough, nor even required, to play good tennis; a different variety of athletic prowess may be essential. Mauresmo has almost a male frame – look at her shoulders – and is in general quite a formidable, forceful player, but she couldn’t put all her natural abilities to work today. In the semifinals, though, she managed to break Yelena Dementieva (my favorite player) and win 6-4, 6-1 after losing 1-4 during the first set – that is, she took 11 games out of the last 12. Myskina, who beat both the top two players, Klijsters and Hénin-Hardenne, to win her previous tournament (Leipzig), is the first Russian woman to take the Kremlin Cup.