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CHINA OPEN

October 3, 2018

Zhang Shuai

Beijing, China

ZHANG SHUAI/T. Babos

6-1, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Today was a much more dominant performance than your first-round match. Were there parts of your game that you felt better about than last time? Was it the opponent? How are you feeling?
ZHANG SHUAI: I think today I play much better. But all good feeling and the confident from the first match. Always after one match, feeling much better and better.

Always very tough the first match every tournament. So I'm so happy today. I play really, really well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese.

Q. I noticed during the match your opponent tried dropshots several times, but you also responded quickly. Before the match, regarding the tactics of your opponent, were you aware of it? Did you have a game plan with your coach?
ZHANG SHUAI: I didn't have any special preparation for this match because for every match I will try to do my best. Sometimes before a match, I would not be able to tell if my opponent is going to play a lot of dropshots or any other tactics.

What I can do is to raise my quality to have good shots, as many as possible. I think I really did well today.

Q. In the first set when you were leading 5-Love, you smiled. What were you thinking at that moment? Did you think you really raised your level at that moment?
ZHANG SHUAI: No, I wasn't really thinking about that. Well, I was leading 5-Love, and she tried to serve-and-volley. But I returned really well. Then the ball bounced back, very good return, almost touching the net.

We had eye contact at the moment. We were surprised at how the ball flew. So we smiled at each other because it was probably the best shot or best rally of the match. So it was an admiration and respect to my opponent.

Q. From the scoreboard, it seems like a very easy match. You had extra practice after the match. Did you want to do some extra preparation for Kerber, for the next round?
ZHANG SHUAI: Neither. If you are familiar with my coach, you know he is a workaholic. If you're familiar with him, we will call him a devil coach. He likes to work hard because he wants me to practice as hard as possible until he is satisfied. So he was thinking that during the match I had some errors, I made some mistakes, and he thought I could have done better. He wanted to give me more instruction to adapt to the matches.

Q. I heard many kids shouting your name. They were cheering for you, rooting for you. Did you feel one of the goals of your career is to encourage more kids to learn tennis?
ZHANG SHUAI: Yes. I love kids. I love children. I just always want to befriend kids. When I'm not happy, when I'm down, as long as I can see kids, it really cracks me up. At that moment it will make the day for me. I'm really grateful that I have so many children here today at the match cheering for me.

In front of children, I always have a higher standard for myself. I pose a higher standard for myself. I want to be a role model for them. I want to lead by example. So I would like to give a very positive image so that whether they see tennis, when they see the players, they see positive images, something they can look forward to, work towards.

I hope more Chinese kids can pick up the racquet because they are inspired by Chinese players. One day they can dream of competing in the China Open, be a player on their home turf. I hope they can be the best players of China.

Many ball kids, I know them personally. Some of those ball kids actually are children of the last generation players. They send their kids here to be ball kids. They are cheering for me. They were ball kids before, now they're growing up, becoming junior players. When I see them, I see the hope of our country.

Q. When you played against players like Babos, these are very powerful players. You're always at a disadvantage. When you played recently like Stosur, Mertens, they're really aggressive players. Did you see any difference in how you played and turned those matches around?
ZHANG SHUAI: Well, I think you're really familiar with how I play. Whenever I play aggressive players, even starting from when I was a kid, I was always intimidated or was threatened by those aggressive players because I cannot fight against them.

Now slowly I am getting better playing those players. Miraculously, whenever I play at the Diamond Court, I feel empowered. I feel empowered by the center court. Those players who I was afraid of, now in the center court I feel empowered to play against them.

I always look forward to the matches in the China Open. I hope I can provide the best performance for the best tournament, for my favorite tournament. I look forward to the match tomorrow.

Q. Today, technically speaking, you served really well. You had eight aces. Kerber is your opponent in the next round. She is very complete in terms of her expertise, capability, mental ability. When you are facing a compete player, what things do you need to improve?
ZHANG SHUAI: I think my opponent tomorrow, three-time Grand Slam champion, different surfaces, former world No. 1, I will try my best to raise my level, to play my best game in the Diamond Court I always get positive energy. I always feel stronger in the center court. I hope this kind of magical experience will come back to me tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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