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US OPEN

August 30, 2019

Karolina Pliskova

New York, NY, USA

Ka. PLISKOVA/O. Jabeur

6-1, 4-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Ons played so well. It was a tough match. How did you manage to get over the finish line?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Strange, for sure. I think I was playing quite good in the first set. Still up 2-0 in the second. Just was not able to somehow win any of my serves quite easily in the second set. Just took me some energy, of course.

You know, just got in trouble maybe more because of me than her. Of course her game is, once you're not feeling great and her game is not super nice to play because she plays kind of everything, I don't even know if she knows what she's playing, and yeah, then was quite difficult.

Was still up 4-1, so I just thought, two breaks, it's a lot, so I believe I can hold the serve and serve it out. I think the serve in the end was better, saved me some breakpoints and I was just able to hit a lot of first serves, which was important.

In the end, good. It was big fight. Not for sure the best feeling but I won, which is good.

Q. Did you feel she was getting especially good on the return? Or did you feel the placement or speed wasn't where you wanted it sometimes? She was hitting a lot of return winners.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think a little bit of both, and I think she just went for it. She was 4-1 down so I think she a little bit took off the mistakes and she just went a little bit more for the return.

Also, I was hitting a lot of second serves, so that's a problem after, because she was just stepping in the court and just was ready always for my second serve.

So I just needed to put some first serves in, which happened after. Couple games I was just serving a little bit better. And then of course then the rallies much different than if you go always to second.

Q. You could play Konta or Zhang next. You have played Konta a lot. What do you think of that matchup and her as a player?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: We played, yeah, a lot, but not really last couple years, not that much. But we played, of course, in Rome. I think she has a great year so far, so she's, you know, playing well at Grand Slams and doing some good results in the big tournaments.

Anyway, for me, she was always good player, so doesn't matter how, you know, sometimes bad she maybe lost last year, was not her best year, but still she can play, she can serve. She has big weapons.

Of course maybe she's going to be a little bit more dangerous than Zhang for me. Let's see who is going to win. And Zhang I played also a couple of times. I know both of them well.

Q. Two top players played in 25Ks, you played Konta years ago. Wonder if you remember anything about her?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Where was it?

Q. Prerov.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Prerov. I remember actually that match, and I know, like, she was always kind of, I don't know, she's maybe my age or maybe a little bit older, so we were always kind of close. That's why maybe we played so many times.

I remember when she was still, like, from Australia. Now she change, she's Great Britain. No, but anyway, I know her a lot. Also her journey, also her tennis. There is nothing what can surprise me.

Of course it's still possible to lose this match because she can still play well, but not that -- for now, all my opponents, I never really played. Sometimes this is worst than to play somebody better but then you know what to expect a little bit.

Q. Do you have a good nickname you like?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Nickname? Well, no, not really, but everybody calls my Kaja, and it's not that I love it but I'm used to it.

Q. Where does it come from?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: It's just shorter. I think Karolina sometimes is just too long, especially for kids. I have a lot of kids around me, so I think it's just too difficult to say Karolina than Kaja.

Q. Does your sister have a nickname?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: She has Tynda. That's also short like, so it's Kristyna, then they say Tynda, only the end, and we call her Tynda. That's how I call her every time.

Q. Tynda?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah.

Q. When you're in New York, have you seen any Broadway shows this year?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, before the tournament I saw "Pretty Woman" and I saw "Frozen." "Frozen" was better for me.

Q. Did you see the movie?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I saw the movie. Both of them. Yeah, it's always I think better to see the movie before you go to the show.

Q. Between you and Kristyna, who is the Anna and who is the Elsa?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, that's tough to say. I'm not going to say I'm Elsa, but I would love to be maybe (smiling).

Q. Those days in the challengers, juniors, what's your idea of playing ITF events?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, of course I have still those memories, but now it's some time since I was playing last challengers, but, you know, I think everybody has those memories because you start there. So nobody really gets straight to Grand Slam from juniors unless you have, you know, 10 wildcards per year.

I think it's how it should be. Start at the low level and then to build up by your own. Of course everything is different at this tournament, so the service is different. So once you get used to what we have here, then it's maybe tough to go back. But when you start there, I think it's different.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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