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AEGON CLASSIC

June 24, 2017

Ashleigh Barty

Birmingham, England

A. BARTY/G. Muguruza

3-6, 6-4, 6-3

Q. Ashleigh, well done for reaching the final. So it's your final at the first attempt at being here. Just how does that feel?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, obviously I've played this tournament a couple of times and played in qualis for singles. But it's nice to be able to string a few matches together and be playing reasonably well and be confident out on court coming into Wimbledon.

Q. The turnaround today, you lost the first set and then it got to 2-2 in the second set and you broke serve. Did that sort of change your mindset when you broke serve then?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Not so much mindset, but I think in the first set, I didn't get a look in on many service games, and being able to get a look in there certainly helped my confidence and I think I served a lot better in my second set and was more comfortable in my service game. So that certainly helped a lot as well.

Q. Your run in Nottingham, how do you think that helped this week so far?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: It was just nice to get a couple of good matches, and obviously I had a good match against Jo, and it's nice to be able to come up against top players leading into a Slam and try and test myself against the world's best, but I'm feeling confident, we've had a lot of grass court tennis now coming into Wimbledon, so hopefully we can play well tomorrow and transfer that through Eastbourne, and of course, Wimbledon.

Q. With singles and doubles, are you concerned about fatigue setting in?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Not at all. We've done it before. We've done it many times playing two matches in a day, and obviously if you're playing two matches on a Sunday, it's a pretty good thing. So we're really excited, and hopefully we'll play well in both matches.

Q. It's your first win over a Top 20 player. What was going through your mind when you served for the match at 5-2?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Nothing. I just -- no. I wanted to stick to my plans, and obviously when you don't make a first serve, it doesn't help you much. But you know, I wasn't panicked at all. I just wanted to go about things the same way I had through the middle way of that second set into the third. But yeah, for me I was really clear and still had a lot of clarity and knew what I wanted to do.

Q. Can you remember the last time you played Petra and what are your thoughts going against her in that match?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, she absolutely taught me a lesson at the French. I was very young back then, but yeah, she actually wiped the floor with me, so hopefully we can turn the tables a little bit tomorrow.

But yeah, I'm obviously I'm in a very different place. She's also in a very different place. I mean not just from my perspective, but I think from everyone, I think it's amazing to have her back on the tour, and to be successful straightaway is just phenomenal.

Q. Well done today. Obviously you hope you're going to win tomorrow, but what does it mean for women's tennis the fact that Petra Kvitova has so far it seems come back after such a horrific attack six months ago, but she seems to be playing well.
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah. I don't think you can find any female tennis player, any tennis player at all who isn't happy to see her back and genuinely pleased she's back on tour and being successful. She's one of the nicest girls you'll ever meet, not just in the tennis world. So it's so nice to have her back out on the court.

Obviously it's a big challenge for me tomorrow. She's won Wimbledon a couple of times and is amazing on grass court as well. So it's going to be a good battle for me.

Q. You've had a good year so far. You won your first title earlier in the year. Does it feel like you've been building towards the sort of results you've been getting this week?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, I think it was important for us to take it step by step, and we've been getting better results the more we've played and the more we've gone on this year. So it's really exciting. And to get a first Top 20 win is pretty cool leading into Wimbledon. Yeah, we're just really excited where we're at.

Q. And do you have any specific aims for Wimbledon when that comes around?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: We'll worry about tomorrow first and then Eastbourne, and Wimbledon is still a little bit of time away, so we'll worry about it then.

Q. I know you're really close to Daria Gavrilova. How important is it for you to be here with her, especially we've been looking at her Instagram story, and she's very happy for your victory already.
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah. Dash texted me a few times already. It's nice to have her here, and obviously for me I'm very spoiled as well having Casey with me a lot of the time. It's a shame that Sam's not with us at the moment, but I think all of us Aussie girls we love to support each other, and we're genuinely happy when each other has success. So it was just nice to get a few messages from Dash. But yeah, she's a bit of a social media queen, isn't she?

Q. I mean, yeah, but it would be a great doubles partnership. The headline would love it if it could happen.
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah. I mean, but I think I've got a pretty dang good doubles partner at the moment, who I don't think I'll be letting go anytime soon. (Laughs).

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