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HUAJIN SECURITIES WTA ELITE TROPHY ZHUHAI

November 3, 2016

Zhang Shuai

Zhuhai, China

Z. SHUAI/T. Babos

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese.

Q. Two keys here for today. I think that you did great serving, and for the whole year you had a little over 30 aces; for this match you got seven. You did a lot of volleys when you were trying to get back into the game. Can you comment on those two keys?
ZHANG SHUAI: Yes, I always think that serving is something that I need to improve. I did spend a lot of time practicing. Today I don't think my serving was particularly good, although more aces than the previous match. But for my standard I don't think I did better than the last one.

Although I didn't have as many aces in my last match, my first serve was better and I won more points on my first serve. Today I missed quite a few first serves. For my second serves because my opponent played very aggressively.

It would be better if my first serve was better so that I can win my games more easily. Of course more volleys, that is also something my coach, Liu Shuo, always told me to do.

I'm pretty happy that I can beat a powerful opponent, because this was never my thing. Since the day I started my career it was not my style. I was a relatively weaker kid; now I am still not very strong. That's why I am so happy that I can beat someone that powerful and aggressive.

Q. After today's match you will be qualified for the semifinals. Your ranking at the moment, your year-end ranking might be breaking a record soon. At the beginning of the year you were still outside the top 100, and now at the end of the year you are in the top 30. Looking back at this year, do you think the result itself impresses you more or what you have done impresses you more?
ZHANG SHUAI: I feel the lower you were the more space you will have for improvement. If I were out of top 1000 I would be enjoying even more. So my ranking was about 200 the end of last year, exactly 200 at this moment last year. I am 20 something today, so one zero gone.

What happened during the past 52 weeks I was very amazed at and I felt like this is a fairy tale. It seems that everything nice took place in the past year. I am so happy for myself. I was in the top 30, down to 200, then back to the top 30. I certainly hope this is not the end for me. I hope that I can break more records.

Q. First of all, congratulations on the semifinal. Although you won the match, during the match there were issues with the audience and volunteers. Did that affect your performance? How did you deal with such disturbance?
ZHANG SHUAI: I didn't feel there was much -- my slow start wasn't because of the audience. My opponent was playing very well, and she is a very different opponent with fast shots. I think this is very natural.

I was glad that after the beginning I was able to win the match and also that even though the beginning wasn't that great, I could still come back. For me it was a very big improvement, especially when my opponent was playing so well.

I got broken, and if it was me before I wouldn't have been able to come back.

Of course when we are speaking of the audience, I do feel some of them are a bit unbelievable. They were moving all the time, even though they were told to sit down. Why did you keep moving?

Also many volunteers kept moving as well and crouching down. To be honest, Babos had a lot of serves over 180 kilometers an hour. I don't think the radar gun was correct because I don't think my speed was only 140.

So her speed was definitely more than 180. Some of them even over 190 or even 200. So I was here preparing to return this serve that is almost 200 kilometers an hour and you were moving there.

How was I supposed to return that kind of serve? Similarly, this didn't only happen to me, but I can speak the language that everybody understands here.

But my opponent also believes there were things against the rules or that were impolite. I do feel that this needs to be improved. I was squatting there ready to return the serve for like seven or eight seconds. Because of the moving audience my opponent could not make the serve. She had to wait, so I had to wait more, for like 20 seconds, and my legs were sore.

Then all the sudden she served. Don't you think that's a huge impact? I am happy that people are here cheering me on. I believe you wanted me to win. Am I right?

If you do want me to win, please be quiet and sit down. At least do sit down when you should be sitting down. Why can you not wait for the end of those two games? Why did you have to stand up immediately? That's something I couldn't understand.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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