Melbourne, Jan 27: Emotional Anastasia Myskina threw a spectacular temper tantrum at her coach before advancing to the Australian Open quarter-finals yesterday.
The sixth-seeded Russian was furious with trainer Jens Gerlach during a battling 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-2 victory over Chanda Rubin of the United States, accusing him of not giving her enough encouragement.
The flashpoint occurred during the first set, when the talented 22-year-old from Moscow visibly lost her cool and became increasingly animated, gesturing towards the stands on the Rod Laver Arena.
But Myskina regained her composure and won the next two sets easily to set up a quarter-final meeting with Belgian world number two Kim Clijsters.
Myskina said she had apologised to Gerlach after explaining her outburst.



"I was kind of nervous because it was a close set and I was just too emotional at that point," Myskina said.



"I just said that he was kind of like a wall, that he has to show me something, show some emotions to me. He has to give me something back," added Myskina, saying there were no hard feelings between the two.



"He knows me. He knows that I don't really mean it. He knows me really well and that I'm really emotional. But it's only on the court," said Myskina, who is trying to put a lid on her temperament.



"I know it's not the best part of me, so I just try to work on this. It's pretty hard, but we'll work on it.



"You know, I am the way I am."


Bureau Report