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MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 8, 2017

Lara Arruabarrena

Madrid, Spain

L. ARRUABARRENA/B. Strycova

3-6, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Spanish.

Q. What are your feelings after this second match?
LARA ARRUABARRENA: Well, I think I played much better than the first day. Today I was a little bit less nervous. I already had a match under my belt which gave me confidence, the way I managed to win that match.

Even though she was a set and a break up, it was more or less the same as the other day. I never stopped fighting. The crowd helped me quite a lot. I think I played pretty well.

Q. Next Monday you will be in the best position in the rankings of your career. How are you going to face the rest of the tournament?
LARA ARRUABARRENA: Well, I think I'm in a good stretch right now. In Miami I won a couple of matches. I think I competed quite well there, as well. Then in Charleston, I had very high expectations, also because we were starting the clay season. I think I didn't play so well because I had too many expectations. Then I went to Bogota. I fought quite a lot. I think that makes a difference.

Instead of playing well, I was just competing well, which sometimes is more important. That's perhaps what I was missing during my career.

On Saturday I managed to win a tough match. Today another tough match. I'm playing against really good opponents. As I say, I think I'm competing quite well. Even though I am not playing at a really, really high level - but today I think I played at a high level - but as I said, I think I'm competing well. I know how to compete right now. I know how to do it.

Q. The last two matches you managed to come back. Do you expect the next match is going to be the same or perhaps a little more calm?
LARA ARRUABARRENA: Well, if the dynamics are going to be the same... I don't mind playing long matches, coming back in the middle of a match.

I think I play Sevastova, if I'm right. We already played once where she beat me in the third set on a fast court a couple of years ago. I think she's a complicated opponent that achieves a lot of things, but you don't hear a lot of noise about her.

I'm expecting a tough match. Today she beat Karolina Pliskova, which is a very good player, too. As I was saying, it's going to be a very tough match, for sure.

Q. You're playing in big stadiums, in the night. Does that suit your game or do you think you could offer a little bit more if you played during the day?
LARA ARRUABARRENA: Well, I don't know what to say really. I like to play at night.

Q. The conditions are different?
LARA ARRUABARRENA: The conditions are different, the ball bounces quite a lot. Perhaps it changes a little bit when you play with sun, that the court may be little bit dryer than playing at night. Perhaps at night it's a little bit more slippery.

The ball bounces quite a lot in Madrid. Perhaps during the day the ball will bounce a little bit more. As I say, I like to play at night because normally we don't do that. It's a completely different atmosphere.

For example, here in Madrid, I have all the crowd behind me, I feel good. I like to play at night. I don't mind playing at night. I enjoy it.

Q. I don't know if the courts are a little bit faster than other years. Do you have that feeling, too?
LARA ARRUABARRENA: Well, Madrid, the ball here always bounces a little bit more. What can I say? I come from Bogota which is 2500 meters high. Over there things go very fast. The first days when I came from Bogota to Madrid, I said this court is very slow. I was thinking, here the ball is much slower. Then from Barcelona to Madrid, I already felt the difference.

You know, you come here, and the balls here, the ones I've been training with, bounce more. I think it suits me. I like it.

Q. You said you're competing better. What has changed from Miami till today?
LARA ARRUABARRENA: It's not just from Miami till now. In Miami we started to see some results. Since I started with my coach in November, we've been doing a lot of things. He needed to see me compete to know how I was behaving during competition and change things. He's been seeing me in the training sessions. When you're out there competing, it's a different story.

He needed to watch me. I'm a player that I haven't had very good tactics. Tactically speaking, I was maybe a little bit of a disaster. Maybe I just played with inspiration.

It's true that I used to strike the ball very well. The day I was playing well, I could win great matches. The day I was playing very badly, I would disconnect. It wouldn't switch on till the next tournament.

What I was saying is maybe I'm playing not so well, but I'm out there playing the matches. I know the tactics now. He goes on court and helps me. Maybe we should work a little bit on that, being a little bit more professional, not just let the matches go.

I'm not saying before I just let the matches good, but I wasn't so positive. Right now I think I'm more positive. I have to compete with what I have today, even though perhaps I'm not at my highest level. That before I didn't do. Now I'm doing it.

It's true that some days it works out better, other days it doesn't. It wasn't something I was doing before.

What I'm telling you, in Miami I won good matches, competing well, but not playing such a high level against good people. I think that makes a difference. That's when I realized what's really important is to know how to compete, not how to really play at a high level.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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