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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL PRESENTED BY SUNCORPJanuary 9, 2015Maria SharapovaBRISBANE, QUEENSLAND M. SHARAPOVA/E. Svitolina THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Pretty well overall. She pushed a little bit at the end, but got through there. MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I mean, she's a great competitor. You definitely saw that. I think I was aggressive enough to take away what she likes doing best: she's a great retriever of the ball. She gets a lot of balls back. She makes it quite physical, but also when she has the time goes for her shots quite a bit. Yeah, I expected her to play well. I think I did a lot of things good to try to take away her game. In the end, it became a little bit more difficult. She became more free, went for her shots a little bit, a few unforced errors from my end, but overall I'm happy I stuck with it and finished the last point. Q. Looking forward to tomorrow's match, Ana had a bit of trouble finishing off today as well. Is it just par for the course at this time of the season? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, well despite how we got to the final, we are in the final. You always expect the toughest match at that stage. It's the last one here. It's a bonus that I'm here in the final this year compared to the semis last year. I want to perform well in that last match, and I'll be looking forward to doing that. Q. Talk a little bit more. Last year played her four times, 2‑All. You've been playing her since 2006. You know her well. What's the key for you? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, we had some really tough matches against each other. Played against each other many times. We certainly know there are no secrets about each other's games. But we always go in and compete. You know, we don't give up until the end. I think that's what makes our matches so great. But, yeah, I mean, she's had a phenomenal year last year. Some of her best results of her career. She is a much more confident player than the years before, and that's great to see. I look forward to a good match tomorrow. Q. Ana said the final is very special. Do you approach the final any differently to any other match, or just the same? MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think I approach it as it's the last one at this event, and you want to give everything that you have. You're not saving yourself for the next one. That's in a week or so. You want to put all your effort and concentration and focus until the very last point. Q. Talk about 2008 Aussie, beating her I believe 7‑5, 6‑3 in the final. Classic. Pretty close overall. MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, that was just a great tournament for me overall. I had one of the toughest draws in a Grand Slam environment, and I faced a lot of different players, very different games. I actually thought that in the final I didn't play as well as I did throughout the tournament. I was quite lucky to win that one. But I did everything that I had to do, and I finished it off really strong. So it was a nice moment in that year. It was the nicest moment, because then I ended up having surgery after that. Career‑wise it was the highlight for me. Q. Do you feel like you've gotten everything you wanted out of Brisbane in terms of time on the court and a chance to work on things? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Not yet. I'm still playing another one tomorrow.  Of course you come here with a goal, and the goal is to win the tournament. I have that opportunity tomorrow. I've faced different opponents so far, different types of games, and that's what I want in this tournament. I'm facing a tougher opponent tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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