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QATAR TOTAL OPEN

February 12, 2018

Catherine Bellis

Doha, Qatar

C. BELLIS/D. Kasatkina

7-5, 4-1, (ret.)

Q. I just want to know what you like about Doha and what you think of the tournament and the city, if you've seen anything fun.
CATHERINE BELLIS: I love it here, yeah. Last year I lost in qualis, so I wasn't here for too long, but I've been here a lot longer already this year. Yeah, I love it. We're staying at an unbelievable hotel, one of the best tournament hotels I think all year. We've been down to the beach a lot. So nice, really relaxing; feels like we're on vacation.

Q. Just about the match today, I mean back-and-forth opening set. And obviously she had to retire, but just talk about the first set. How happy were you with how you played?
CATHERINE BELLIS: Yeah, it was really good. I had played her a few times in juniors and then once in pro circuit. So it was definitely, you know, we kind of knew how each other played. And yeah, I knew it was going to be really tough and long points. So just really glad I got through it. I think it was really high-quality first set. I felt really bad for her that she had to retire, but I think it was something to do with her neck or shoulder. Hopefully she'll be better next week.

Q. With the qualifying campaign, this is what you did a little last year in the Middle East as well, so how helpful is it for you, especially on these courts, to come into these opening matches with a couple of matches under your belt?
CATHERINE BELLIS: Oh, that's huge. Yeah. I think I ended up being the onesies in qualis. I was literally one and out; and I wasn't even mad about it. That was one time that I wasn't even mad about having to play qualis, because the courts are a little different here; you have to get used to them. So it's really nice for me to have now three matches under my belt going into the next round.

Q. And you won 17 consecutive games to start your qualifying campaign. That was a little weird. How did you feel? Just kind of was it a matter of the competition or were you just really on it from the first ball here?
CATHERINE BELLIS: Yeah, I know. I felt good. I think the girl I played in the first round of qualis hadn't played many tournaments. I think she was a little bit younger, she was just starting. So she was probably a little bit nervous, and I think I took advantage of that a little bit. And yeah, and then the second round I started out really strong. And yeah, I think it was just feeling the courts really well, and I had had a few days to practice. So I pretty much felt the courts and they felt like I'd played on them for a while.

Q. How important is it to take time, like you said, like the beach and kind of feel like a vacation, because you're grinding from Australia to Middle East, I mean all over the world every week, and it's just hotels, courts, hotel. How important is it to take a minute to see something, do something, relax?
CATHERINE BELLIS: Oh, yeah. It's huge. Every afternoon when we're done with practice, we go down to the beach and like lay there. It's so nice. You don't get to do that in a lot of places. Like in Australia you had to drive to the beach. So it's so nice the hotel is really right on it. It's so nice. It's just important, taking your mind off the tournaments. Like you said, we travel so much. So it's definitely nice to have that.

Q. And are you following the Olympics at all?
CATHERINE BELLIS: Definitely.

Q. Yeah?
CATHERINE BELLIS: Yeah. Every moment that we're back at the hotel we're watching.

Q. Do you have like Olympic sports that -- the winter Olympic sports that you're like following hard core or is it just about USA?
CATHERINE BELLIS: Yeah. USA, or we kind of just turn on whenever we can. We aren't really following at certain times what the sports are on. But yeah, I love watching all the skiing and snowboarding and definitely following all the USA competitors. It's so cool. So cool to watch.

Q. And I know you're a state of California kid. So are there winter sports, though, that maybe when you were younger you either tried and thought, oh, I would love to do this in the Olympics or ones you see where you're like, I wish I could have been an Olympian in that winter discipline?
CATHERINE BELLIS: Yeah. When I was younger, I skied like every weekend during the winter. And we went to this one place every ski week and tried to get up there as much as possible. And I loved it, but never enough to do it professionally or I wouldn't have been good enough for the Olympics. So I think tennis was definitely a better option for me.

Q. So is the Olympics in 2020 something that's on your radar, something that you're hoping for, working towards?
CATHERINE BELLIS: Yeah. I mean I haven't looked that far ahead yet. But definitely it's a dream of mine to play the Olympics one day. It would be awesome.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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