LOS ANGELES (AP) – Anastasia Myskina rallied from two breaks down and a 4-1 deficit in the first set to beat Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-3 in round-robin play at the WTA Championships on Friday night.

Myskina evened her record at 1-1 in the Black group, which includes No. 2 seed Justine Henin-Hardenne and third-seeded Jennifer Capriati. The top two players in the Black and Red groups advance to the semifinals.

Sugiyama fell to 0-2 and won’t qualify for the semifinals in her first singles appearance in the season-ending championships. She hasn’t won a set in either of her matches. She and Kim Clijsters are partners in doubles, which begin Sunday.

Later Friday, Henin-Hardenne played Capriati in a rematch of their dramatic U.S. Open semifinal, won by eventual champion Henin-Hardenne. Defending champion Clijsters took on Amelie Mauresmo in the other match. Myskina was coming off a grueling 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 loss to Henin-Hardenne the previous night. She led in each set, including 5-0 in the first, only to lose after 21/2 hours.

“I didn’t sleep well. I closed my eyes and I was still playing tennis,” she said. “I was so mad and upset, I was crying for a couple of hours. I was thinking how stupid I can be to lose a set after being up 5-0.”

She finally found comfort by calling her parents. Initially, Myskina didn’t think she’d be able to recover by the time she had to play Sugiyama.

“I was thinking I have to fight because I still have a chance to be in the semifinals,” she said. “I could’ve lost today and gone home. I was really proud of myself that I could win.”

Trailing 4-1 in the first set, Myskina won five straight games and the set 6-4. She broke Sugiyama twice in the second set.

then served a 40-love game to go up 4-1. She closed out the victory with a backhand winner.

“She made mistakes earlier and then she started to focus a little bit more,” Sugiyama said. “I couldn’t get the rhythm again. It just went so quickly.”

Myskina has been playing her best tennis since losing in the U.S. Open quarterfinals to Henin-Hardenne. The 22-year-old Russian has reached the quarterfinals or better at four of her last five tournaments, including winning consecutive titles in Austria and her hometown of Moscow.

AP-ES-11-07-03 2302EST