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BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 16, 2017

Pablo Carreno Busta

Indian Wells, California

P. CARRENO BUSTA/P. Cuevas

6-1, 3-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. Congratulations on the win. Talk a little bit about what it's like to be in your first Masters 1000.
PABLO CARRENO BUSTA: Well, it's an amazing feeling. It's my first time in the semifinal in a Masters 1000, but here in Indian Wells is -- you know, for me, this tournament is one of the best, not just the Masters 1000, one of the best tournaments in the year and maybe one of the tougher, because all the people is playing here, all the top 20. Just Raonic didn't play.

So I think it's a really great result for me.

Q. What is it about Cuevas? You keep either teaming with him or running into him. You know his game well?
PABLO CARRENO BUSTA: Yeah, I know how he's play. He know how I play. We know a lot. We play last week in Sao Paulo. We play together doubles in Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

So it was a tough match, you know. Always with Cuevas-- with Pablo is I need to be very focused on my game, very aggressive, because his second serve or his kick, you know, the ball is bounce a lot. So I need to be aggressive and I need to dominate the points, because he's really dangerous with his forehand.

Q. You've played here with Rafa in doubles. You guys are friends. Perhaps he's a mentor in some sense. Have you heard from him? And in playing doubles with him, what, if anything, did you learn?
PABLO CARRENO BUSTA: Yeah, Rafa is a really good friend. And I think he helped me a lot. Not just in the doubles here in Indian Wells. We played doubles in Beijing last year.

I was sparring at the Davis Cup when Rafa plays in Madrid against Ukraine. And he helped me a lot always, no? I practiced with him a lot of times and I think it's really good for me to be near him, because he's one of the best players of the history, and I am lucky to can be near him.

Q. You don't seem necessarily like the quintessential Spanish clay court player. Talk about how comfortable you are on a hard court and how different your game is.
PABLO CARRENO BUSTA: Yeah. The Spanish players always plays good on clay courts, but I think in the last years we are playing good also in the hard courts. Bautista is playing really good on hard courts, winning tournaments. And Rafa, for sure.

I think I am comfortable in these courts also. I like clay courts. But the two tournaments that I won, I won in hard courts in indoor court in Moscow, and now I'm semifinals in this Masters 1000. So I think we can play on all the surfaces.

Q. What is going so well for your game right now? You're at a high ranking in your career. What's coming together for you?
PABLO CARRENO BUSTA: I will be in the top 20. Was my objective when I started year. And we are in March and I'm top 20, so is good news for me. But I need to continue working.

I need to work hard, because it's not easy to be here. And I know that if I stop now, I will roll back again. So I'm very happy, of course, and we are making a good job, but I will need to continue like this.

Q. What, if anything, has changed in your training over the last year that propels your game now?
PABLO CARRENO BUSTA: Maybe the most important thing was the mentally with my new team. We work so hard about to be focused all the time, to be very aggressive, to try to dominate all the points. And, you know, it's not easy, of course, but they helped me a lot all the time during this year and a half, working with them.

And I think we are very comfortable both with me and me with them. So we'll continue, and I hope that things will continue like this.

Q. How do you become tougher mentally?
PABLO CARRENO BUSTA: Yeah, probably it was the key, no? When I start with them, Samuel and Cesar teach me how to be tough mentally like this, and maybe Juan Carlos Ferrero helped me a lot also.

I think they are working very good with me, very hard. And when you play matches and you have more experience finally, no, you are best player, no? When you have more experience, you are confidence.

Like me, now in this moment, I am very confidence. I'm playing good. I'm being aggressive. And I think that when you play like this all the matches, not just one match and then stop during two weeks, when you play all the matches like this, you will have going up.

Q. Speaking of the match, you played quite a bit this year. I know it's hard to balance. If your ranking is going good, you kind of want to keep playing, but at the same time you have to be careful you don't overplay. How do you manage your schedule?
PABLO CARRENO BUSTA: Yeah, we are in March. I have next week Miami. And then we'll see because there is Davis Cup in Serbia. We play in Serbia outside.

I don't know just the team. But if Captain Conchita comes with me, of course I will go. And then we have the clay court season and I will try to play more as I can. And maybe Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Estoril, Madrid, and Rome, and then, of course, Roland Garros.

But we'll see, because I am playing a lot of matches and playing singles and doubles, and maybe I need to stop with the doubles because the singles matches are really tough. So maybe I need to be focused on singles.

Q. When you play Davis Cup, what is it about that competition that is inspiring? A lot of athletes talk about it, but what does it feel like?
PABLO CARRENO BUSTA: I think it's very different about play ATP tournaments. When I play -- I play last year in Romania, but it was a match when -- I played a match when we won. So it was a exhibition match.

And when I play in Croatia this year, I feel the pressure, I feel the Davis Cup feeling, and I think it was so different. It was amazing, of course, because we won. But when I lost the first match, I need to coming back again, because in two days you have to play again, and I played the most important match of the tournament with 2-All. I won this match, I think, because Conchita and my team, Samuel and Cesar, believe in me and I believe in myself.

I think it was really good experience for being now in the semifinals.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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