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CHINA OPEN

October 4, 2016

Dominika Cibulkova

Beijing, China

A. CORNET/D. Cibulkova

6-2, 5-7, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It's rainy today and the court was wet and slippery. Did it affect you?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I mean, during the play it wasn't wet and slippery. It was a regular court.

But, yeah, the conditions were a little bit different than in Wuhan. I tried today. I tried to do my best. Was a different court, different ball. Opponent played well today. It was just a little different in the third set.

I started to play better and better during the match, but I wasn't able to win it today because everything came together. I missed a few balls, I missed a few more that I shouldn't miss, and that's the difference.

Q. You won the second set. You lost the third set 6-2. How do you feel about your performance today? Is there something you can improve?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: That's what I said. It's the end of the year, so not many things you can improve right now. It was just another match. I was surprised I wasn't feeling tired. I was feeling good on the court. Just didn't feel the ball that much like in Wuhan. The difference in the balls, I could feel it. But during the match I was playing better and better. As I said, I made too many mistakes and that's what cost me the win.

Q. Sharapova's ban was reduced today. You were quite tough on her when the ban first came out. Do you think it's fair she's going to be allowed to return?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I don't know. You can only respect that. The decision is the decision. There is nothing else I can say about it.

Q. About the conditions between Wuhan and here. Is it the fact that it's much colder today? Was it the balls? The court surface?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, you know, my goal today was to survive this match. I knew I was going to play better and better. Just I wanted to survive today because the first match is always the toughest when you change conditions and you have to come and play two days after.

I would say the balls were the biggest difference. Yeah, the court is a little bit more quicker. But I didn't feel that much. Just maybe the balls were the biggest difference.

Yeah, I'm sad and disappointed that I lost today because I wanted to go far. I felt really confident after Wuhan. Just wasn't the best today. I knew I could win with not playing the best tennis. I just, as I said, made too many mistakes to win today.

Q. What's your plan going forward?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I don't think about it. My plan, we going to stick with the original plan. I going to play just Moscow and we see how it's going to turn out. Right now I can't do anything about it. I don't think I'm going to change my plans to play a small tournament right now. It's the end of the season. Of course, I want to fight for Singapore. But let's see what's going to happen.

Q. Has your opinion on Maria changed at all since you first talked about her case? Have you changed your mind at all about what happened?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: No. What do you mean?

Q. Compared to the first time you talked about it, what you thought about what she did, has your opinion evolved or do you still think the same thing?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, I knew what I said. I'm not changing my opinion. I just don't want to talk about it anymore, yeah. It's the same.

Q. In the past when you were in contention for Singapore, you said you thought about it too much. You kind of choked at the end of the season. This time is it a similar situation or just a bad day today? Do you feel like you got nervous?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: No, no, no. I wasn't nervous at all. I didn't go into this match that it could change me something for Singapore or anything like that. No, it's completely different.

If I would be nervous about Singapore, I couldn't do well in Wuhan. No, it was just everything came together. Yeah, I have to say she was playing good, and I was not playing that good to beat her. I wasn't far from that. It was really close games in the third set. It could go both ways.

So, no, it was just one of these days.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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