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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 26, 2018Kristina MladenovicTimea BabosMelbourne, Victoria, Australia BABOS-MLADENOVIC/Makarova-Vesnina 6-4, 6-3 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How does it feel? TIMEA BABOS: What a great question to start. Of course it's an incredible feeling to share this moment together on court. We really enjoy playing together. We improved overall I think every single match. Our spirit and our friendship together, it really helped through the week because obviously we didn't -- KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Two weeks. TIMEA BABOS: Two weeks. Because we didn't start actually that well. In the beginning we had some tough moments, some tough matches with playing not the level what we gave today. This was the key, to stay positive and help each other on court, and voila. Q. Kristina, how much did that help you? KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: I have my part on the court, but also if I don't do my job on the court today and the previous matches, we wouldn't be here. So for me it's only positive. How can I describe this? It's a Grand Slam title that I add to my career. It's something you cannot describe in a way. It's so emotional. It's great. When you live moment like this, there is no reason why it couldn't work in singles. Obviously it's a lot of confidence, yeah, just positivity for me. Q. Was there a turnaround for you in the tournament? TIMEA BABOS: For me it was the second match I think. The second match, it was quite tricky with the opponents and we didn't play our best tennis. We were really struggling and fighting. We were able to fight that match through. I think that gave us a lot of hope and confidence. Yeah, I mean, since then we only played top players, players who played fourth round here or top 20, top 30 players. Even today, they are one of the best and most consistent, I would say, team in the world. We were able to manage it in two sets. It's difficult to really point to the turnaround. I think overall it was just important to find our way and to improve. Q. Does it make it sweet winning a title against a team like the Russians? I think they were going for their career Golden Slam if they won. Obviously they are very experienced and have done this before. Does that make it nicer? KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: You know, at the end of the day, like we all say, as a tennis player, you remember the winner. You don't really mind who you played in the Grand Slam final or how you played it. Of course, it makes it more special. As Timea said, they're an amazing team together, one of the most consistent over the years. Of course, it makes it even nicer. Not because it's against them and we have something against them. Of course no. It's just something special to see that these girls are going for records and nice career. We are just very proud and of course enjoying this special moment. Q. What were the circumstances of you finishing up at the WTA Finals? How did you get back together again? TIMEA BABOS: We actually talked about it already at US Open. I think it was the time when we started to talk to join forces next year. I mean, we really separated because of the Olympics. We had such an incredible success together. After separately also. The year after she won French Open, and I won the Masters. Separately we were also good, but I think together we're the best. Me, specifically, I always played my best tennis with her in doubles. Since then, we improved even in singles the last three years. KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: It's true? TIMEA BABOS: It's true (laughter). Even when I had great success without you, I played always my best with you. Since then, we both improved in singles. This really helped. I mean, in today's tennis, even doubles, the singles game is very important. We were able to manage it against two amazing singles players. I think, back to the question, it makes it a bit more sweeter. Q. Kristina, what is ahead for you now? There's an important Fed Cup tie against Belgium in a few weeks. KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: It's 6:46. I'm catching a flight tonight to St. Petersburg. That's what is next for me. Q. What do you think of Elise Mertens, who you will face? KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: I know her really well actually. Last year exactly this period, I played her in St. Petersburg, where I won my title last year. She was my first round. I thought she was my toughest opponent of the week. I notice her already back then. I said, This girl is going to play well. For me, is no surprise actually. She's a great girl, great tennis. She works good outside of the courts. It's things that you can see. Yeah, is going to be a very difficult tie for us. Not sure we are the favorite really on the paper. We are playing at home. I love Fed Cup. I'm confident that we're going to give everything out there. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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