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BNP PARIBAS WTA FINALS SINGAPORE

October 26, 2016

Karolina Pliskova

Kallang, Singapore

S. KUZNETSOVA/K. Pliskova

3-6, 6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Commiserations. Looked like you were going to do one of your legendary comebacks. What was the difference out there today?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Definitely I would say my serve. I was just not putting first serve in at all. Not even -- I was trying just to put it there somehow.

So, I mean, everything through the second serve which was the biggest mistake. She was pushing me, and then in the important moments she played a little bit better than me. She put more first serves in than me, so that was the key of the match.

Q. What do you think made the difference today with the rhythm on the serve? Seemed like you weren't hitting as many aces. It's rare you only hit three.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think the first set was okay, the serve. Then I just didn't find my rhythm on the serve. I took off the speed a little bit and was trying to not play as many second serve. She was pushing me from the second serve, but still it wasn't working.

I felt a little bit my shoulder, so that's why maybe the first serve was not that fast and not that good. Yeah, on the second serve she was even returning -- if I put the first serve in she was returning quite long, deep balls from the first serve. Maybe that's why I was missing more than on the other matches.

Q. You have Aga next. Does the fact that you have to play her in the next round, did that give any extra pressure to this match, wanting to get as many wins as you can?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Right now I don't care about that match. No.

Q. She was trapping you, especially in the first set, on the backhand side. How frustrating is it for you when you cannot play as you like and maybe use your forehand more?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: She has a different game. Of course she was playing this game against Aga and she beat her. I think she's right now playing some of her best tennis. You saw last few shots what she played. I think title in Moscow probably help her a lot.

She is feeling confident. That's why she's doing those shots. It's always tough to play someone like this. I just think was so close. There was not that bad things what I did wrong. Just about few points.

Still, for me it's tough to play only from the backhand and not pushing from the forehand. I cannot open the court with a backhand, and obviously she has a little bit better backhand than forehand. She can play the shot down the line and still hold the cross without any mistakes.

That's obviously tough.

Q. The first set looked really dominant. What do you think was the turn point or what really shifted momentum?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think she was not playing her best the first set. I was obviously serving better than the next two sets. It's everything together. I was playing better, faster. She didn't have much time. She was missing more. She was playing frames. I don't know if she was kind of nervous our tired in the beginning.

What she was playing third set was a little bit different game than in the first.

Q. Are you amazed, surprised about her stamina, having played all the way through Moscow, won Moscow when she really had to, gets on a plane, travels 5000 miles, plays two very long matches here?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I'm not surprised at all. She won two Grand Slams, so it's not someone who just came up. She is very strong woman and she can really play tennis. She has tough game for everyone I would say here in this tournament, especially this surface suits her pretty well, I think.

So I'm not surprised.

Q. This format can reward players who win as many sets, games as they can, even of they don't necessarily win the match. Does that necessarily help you or give you some confidence heading into the final stage of the round robin?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Definitely here it's important every game, every set. A little bit disappointed to end this way, but definitely going to just try to take positive from this match and just move forward.

I have doubles tomorrow and then obviously last match in the group. I'll just do anything what I can to be ready for those two.

Q. Did you mention the shoulder? How are you feeling physically?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I would just say it's tired because I was playing this many serves and I was everything going through the second. So I just had to play more serves than normally.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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