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WUHAN OPEN

September 27, 2017

Karolina Pliskova

Wuhan, Hubei, China

K. PLISKOVA/Wang Q.

6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. After a couple of matches, I assume the ball seems to be coming off your racquet okay and you feel the conditions are working for you?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, I felt great today. Probably you could see it. I think my tennis, I was just feeling every shot. Even my backhand, my forehand, even the serve. There was not many matches in this year like this, so I appreciate it.

Well, you know, every match what I win like this, it's good. It's just good to have those kind of matches in the year. Obviously you have tough matches, but sometimes you need an easy one as well. That was today.

I think I felt the best actually this year with this match.

Q. You've been pretty critical of yourself throughout the season. Why do you think this match, it all kind of flowed for you?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, I think the level for me this year was okay, but my feelings were not okay on the court. So sometimes you feel like the ball on the racquet, but was not my case this year. Still, there were some good matches.

But like I said, this was one of the best matches this year. No matter the opponent, no matter the tournament, I just felt great today. Maybe the match what I was playing yesterday quite helped me as well to go through the tough points and tough games. That's why I felt that good today.

Q. Who is with you here doing the coaching stuff?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: My father.

Q. You said before the tournament that you're an aggressive player, but you like to rally and stay in points. I wonder, how did that come about? There are a lot of aggressive players that don't do that in the game.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, I said I still have the plan I still want to be aggressive, but not aggressive that I hit 10 winners from the first ball and 10 mistakes from the first ball. That's not my style. In this game, I just don't feel well.

For me, it's important just to feel well from my side. Doesn't matter what the opponents like, doesn't matter what is working with other players. With me, I just feel that I can play the rallies, wait for the right shots, not to be passive, not to be running there like crazy. I just feel like I can play two, three balls, then just go for my shot, not really this type of, like, that aggressive player as there is few on the tour. I think I'm not.

Q. Today is your first meeting with Wang Qiang, the Chinese player. What do you think the difference between her and Zhang Shuai is?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think today it's tough to say because I was playing totally different tennis than I was playing yesterday. Unfortunately for her the score was quite easy.

I think actually I told myself in the second game it's going to be tough because I felt like she was playing pretty fast, was not missing much from the baseline. Then it changed quickly. I think she's really solid from the baseline as well.

They have quite similar game. I think the serve from Zhang - I don't know how you pronounce it - is better than the serve from Wang, but overall I think the game is pretty similar. I think they would play close when they face each other.

Q. When you split from a coach, how much about your daily routine and your training changes? Do you scrap everything and do your own thing immediately, or are the same habits there?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: No, no, actually everything stays. I still have my fitness coach here. We do all the same things as I did through the years. There is no changes with this.

Obviously with the practices, if you have a match every day, then anyway you don't practice like more than just the matches and warmup. There is not changes with this.

Maybe sometimes when you don't have a match or you're just waiting for another tournament, I feel like maybe I can play more, I can play less. It all depends by me.

Anyway, I think even when there is a coach, you can still talk with the coach, but the decision is what you want. It's not about what the coach wants. There is no changes with this.

Q. What is your dad like as a coach?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, he know me since I'm very little, so... I think he's very strict, as well. We are similar in this.

Well, he knows me, so he knows when I feel well. He sees if I'm playing well, if I'm hitting the right shots. He also said this was one of the best match what I played this year. We kind of felt the same about my game today.

Obviously it's not about the technique of things. It's more about, like we always talk before the matches, the mentality, just the way how I want to play, how I want to feel.

He's always supporting me. I think he's having the right -- he sees the right way in my tennis. He's not putting any pressure.

It's just a dad (smiling).

Q. Does it feel like you have more clarity of thought; maybe you're not fighting kind of like a voice right now, and everything is on the same page?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, I know he's always going to be on my side. But it's not like he's not going to say any bad or negative things about my game. If he sees something, he is going to say.

I don't have that many things in my head right now, technical, tactical things. We don't talk much about this. We just play some shots. Even when I was practicing the two days before this tournament, I just went and hit without, like, talking and without any special exercises. I just kind of felt like I needed this a little bit.

Q. You're now officially qualified for Singapore. That's finally done. How do you feel about that? What are you looking forward to about going back there?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, I felt amazing. I know since yesterday. I was happy that I got this news because I know I'm pretty close to getting there. Even after Tokyo, even after like through the all season, I know I'm still there in the race.

Was just happy I don't have to take care of the last points in the last tournaments, that I don't have to play any tournaments before Singapore, so I really can take that one week off without a tournament, move to Singapore. That's what I did last year.

So I can enjoy my tennis right now more because obviously still I can fight for the No. 1 position, but otherwise there is nothing more what I would feel pressure from it. So I felt like this maybe help me as well, that I got this news yesterday. To be second time in a row in Singapore, for me it's amazing.

Q. You play Ash Barty next. Thoughts on that matchup?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think tough. I saw little bit how she was playing today. I think she was playing very well. Obviously my style is different than Radwanska. Hopefully I'll play the game what she doesn't like. Let's see.

We played last time in Nottingham. Was pretty close. Was on the grass. I think she improved since that time. She's enjoying the tennis more. You could see on the court. She's having some good matches behind her, so it's going to be tough. I think I have the game to beat her.

Q. Your groundstrokes and serve are very smooth and compact, almost how you teach them in a textbook. How much was technique important for you as you were growing up? How much did you focus on that part of your game?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, not much. I think it was just when we started, when I started to play tennis, it was a good coach who gave us these shots and good techniques, like the basics. Since then I don't feel like I was changing much, so everything stays.

I feel like it's going naturally, so there is nothing what I would have to think about in my shots. It's more about, like, where you want to play, when you want to play it, where you want to place it. My shots, I feel like I'm doing it naturally.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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