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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2017

Karolina Pliskova

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

K. PLISKOVA/J. Ostapenko

4-6, 6-0, 10-8

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Thoughts in your head at 2-5? I know you shared some of them with your racquet, but how did you turn it around from there?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, yeah, I had to do something, so I did this thing with the racquet. Wasn't really clever, but...

I still lost the game after I smashed the racquet. But she was on fire, so there was not much things to do. I was just somehow trying to stay there.

But, yeah, then finally she did some mistakes when it was 5-2. I think she got little bit tight and shaky. She actually said it to me now in the locker room, that she was tight.

So till 5-All, I served just one game well. Otherwise, I was just trying to put the balls back in, waiting if she's going to get tired. And she got, so...

It was much about me still. She was the one who was more aggressive today, going for the shots. She was playing really fast, really well, I think. Also deserved to win. But unlucky in the end for her.

Q. You said on court you thought she was the better player maybe today, but your stats were phenomenal for the match. Why did you feel like maybe it wasn't as much on your racquet?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, I think she was the one who was more aggressive, so I didn't have any chance almost to go for my shots and play just the game what I'm normally playing. So she was pushing me, when I had second serve, for my second serve.

Even when she served first, she was still making the pressure on me, which cannot happen, but there can be matches like this. I'm real happy I get through it. Even if it was not my game, it was not easy match, it still counts, it's a win.

Just I think the only thing what I'm pleased with was my serve in the third set. I think I had high percentage of the first serve actually finally.

Q. Very high, 76%.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, I felt.

Q. How good does it feel in those late moments to know you have a big serve? You had some easy holds in the end.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I had few. She had actually as well. She was not only serving well, but playing really well from the baseline, just fast, flat shots.

But obviously it's a big help. It's always a little bit more pressure on the opponents when you know you can serve well. Obviously there can be game when I don't serve well. But still there's the pressure of them.

Q. After fighting your way out of that close call, are you more relieved or happy, frustrated?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Of course, I'm happy. It's first time I'm actually in the third round here. Doesn't matter how I played, how I won, what happened there. I'm through. So that's the most important thing for me.

Just going to try to improve. I had some easy matches now in the past, even with the Brisbane, I had just one tough match against Vinci. So now few easy ones. So I think I needed a hard one.

Q. What about taking on an Aussie on her home court?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Excited. I just got to know that I'm playing Dasha. We played once, I think. Definitely we going to play again on a big court, which is a good thing. I'm used to having the crowd against me, so nothing's going to surprise me.

I think I'm going to have the chance to play now my aggressive game, not like today.

Q. You said you had a nice handshake at the net with her. You said you were talking in the locker room.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I mean, I was so surprised. She was amazing. She just came to me and told me, Yeah, I was so tight when it was 5-2 in the third.

I was like, Yeah, I know. I saw it. (Smiling.)

Not normally like talking about the things happened in the third set.

I said, You played really well until the 5-2, then she did a few mistakes. But it's tough to play like this the whole match. So I was just waiting for this chance.

I say, Yeah, I remember the match from Cincinnati. You were not playing like this at all. So what happened today?

She improved a lot. She said there, she was playing really bad, I was obviously playing little better in Cincinnati. She felt her game today really well.

Q. She seemed really happy for somebody that just lost. Were you surprised by that, too?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Actually, yes, because she was so close to win. She really was playing well. It's not like that she would be struggling with her game or something.

So, yeah, but if she takes it like this, it's really good thing for her. I think she can still move like this, even with the loss, that she lost the match, it's good that she can still take it positive like she did. I was surprised.

Q. She was moving around a lot during your serve.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah.

Q. Did you expect that or did it bother you?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I didn't try to think about it at all. That's why I think I was still serving well. If I would be, like, thinking about it or watching her or something, I would just lose my concentration and my rhythm of the serve.

But I saw it. Well, no one is doing it. She's probably the only one. But if it helps, then she can keep doing this.

Q. Is it more distracting to see it or to hear it? Her shoes were squeaking.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I didn't hear anything. I'm just not trying to hear things. Even sometimes I do, but I'm just not trying to do, concentrate on others, just myself. But my team told me it was not really nice this. But I still had my serve in my hands, so I was just trying to hold it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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