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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

January 4, 2019

Karolina Pliskova

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

K. PLISKOVA/A. Tomljanovic

6-1, 1-6, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Karolina?

Q. Karolina, you said it was a strange match. Talk about what happened in the second set there.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I don't know. For me the conditions today was just so much different than the other matches I played. Even the practice I practiced during the night. So the night it's a little bit different. But I felt actually in the beginning not that bad, but I think she was missing so much. So I just lost my rhythm a little bit. I was serving well, so there was not many rallies actually tonight. And she also tries to play fast, so it was very quick the first set, and then somehow quick second and quick third.

But, yeah, I lost the momentum a little bit, the rhythm in the second, and I think she just step in the court a little bit. She tried to be more aggressive, and she was just going for her shots, especially the backhand. She has a great backhand.

So yeah, I don't know, not much about it. Maybe I could serve a little bit better in the second set. Obviously I felt the serve was great today. So to lose 6-1, it cannot be possible with the serve. So I think that was for sure one thing which I could do better.

Q. When you talk about the conditions, you talk about the bounce of the ball, for example?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, and I felt -- of course, the speed stays the same but under the lights it's still a little bit different. Of course, the conditions change during the day. It's much warmer, but I just felt somehow it's a little bit faster maybe under the lights. I don't know. Maybe her game was just also a little bit different. She plays very flat. I just felt even like my serve I felt was flying much faster than the days before, even though I was playing during the day, which should be normally faster. But, yeah, just somehow different.

Q. You've been quite successful in Brisbane, and I'm just kind of curious why you think that is.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think half it's because it's like half indoor, and I always play well indoor. For my serve it's great. There are no -- these conditions, the windy conditions sometimes which can be outside. So I feel like the serve is working here. It's pretty fast. So the game is working. I felt always good here, also before I won the title here. So I had great matches. I remember beating Azarenka here was one of my best matches. And, yeah, just somehow I feel always from the start when I come here.

It's not always easy to come from Prague or from other cities, but I always take time to come here maybe like four or five days before the tournament so I just make sure that I practice a lot before. And I take it a little bit like more easy as a tournament, as a start first tournament. You don't really want to stress the first week in the year. So maybe that's why.

Q. The changeover between the second and the third set, do you think or did you say anything to yourself to change the momentum?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yes. I tried a little bit to move a little bit more, to be a little bit faster with my reactions, and just to not give her that many points free, just to serve better as I was serving in the first set and just to hold -- my goal was to hold my first serve, to go 1-0, and I knew I'm going to get my chances because I know she can get tight a little bit on the serve on the forehand, so she can miss a lot. But I just know if I'm solid I can beat her. I was pretty confident with myself anyway. Like the second set was bad, but I was pretty confident coming into the third set.

Q. You mentioned that you're pretty happy with your serve this week. I know it's a stroke that was kind of maybe up and down last year. So what adjustments have you made to kind of get it back on track?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I don't know. Nothing special, but just, of course, we practice the serve, but sometimes it just comes and you don't even know how and why, but sometimes you just try to serve, and the more you want, it's just not going in. But this time I just feel it's just so clean. I'm hitting the serve, even the last two matches were not that great. I think this one was the best so far with my serving, but I just feel like the balls are pretty fast; and as I said, the conditions here are perfect for me, so maybe just, I don't know, I just somehow found the rhythm which is with me. It's all about the timing with the serve, and then I can still serve.

Q. Donna Vekic said that you two practiced the day before the tournament and that you beat her that time and now you are playing against each other. Do you follow her path until now?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yes, I know. But I played super amazing in the practice, and she was laughing about it, because, actually, one set, I think the second set was a little bit close. I think 3-all or something in this, but I played great.

And I think she played all the three matches very well, what I saw a little bit. I saw a little bit of the match today, and she killed Sasnovich. So I said we always have to practice before the tournament because then we always play both well.

Yeah, but I think anyway, she's a good player. I think she last half year or maybe one year she improved so much, and I feel like she's going more up and up, not only with the ranking but the way she plays. Of course, she's getting a little bit older. I think she was just too young. So she has more experience now. We played in Tokyo. It was a great match. So for sure I'm looking forward to it.

Q. You mentioned that these conditions are almost half indoor. So how do these conditions compare to Tokyo?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, there it's completely indoor. Here, you still can feel the weather from the outside. So it's still like super humid. It can be hot. You know, it can be the sun from the side. It can still be a little breeze, a little wind in there, because still it's open from the sides. But there it's completely indoors, so there is nothing like wind or sun or nothing. So it's still different, but just the noise of the balls when you hit it, it a little bit feels like indoor. And of course, the roof, which it's white, so it's like -- I would not say normally never indoor it's white roof, but, yeah, it's good. I think it's helping, especially for the first week. Everybody is like half dead here. So it's helping that we don't have to be in the sun.

Q. In Tokyo was it faster than here or?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: No. Much slower.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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