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US OPEN

August 26, 2019

Ashleigh Barty

New York, NY, USA

A. BARTY/Z. Diyas

1-6, 6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How pleasing is it to sort of have a fight and get through that?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, I mean, I probably would have preferred if it was a little bit more straightforward, but, yeah, happy the way we were able to fight through that and find a way after a pretty awful start.

I think I just didn't give myself a chance in that first set. Sort of appalling, probably made a set's worth of errors. I think it was just nice to kind of lock down a little bit. It took some time but kind of break her down in the end.

Q. Obviously you don't want a first set like that to start off a two-week campaign but is it good to have something like that off your back knowing you can not have your A game but somehow rally to find it and then be dominant in the following two sets?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, I mean, not the ideal start, not the perfect start, but it is what it is. We were able to find a way after that to get into the match and be more patient and really just kind of lock down and wait until I got the right balls and right patterns that I wanted.

That was probably the biggest change in the second and third is I was able to get more of those patterns more regularly and in the end build pressure to create more opportunities to break.

Q. Was patience a key difference? I heard you use the word "patience." Do you think that was the key difference between sets 1, and then 2 and 3?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, absolutely.

Q. What kind of problems does she create with her game?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Oh, I think as obviously seen particularly in that first set, she was able to put the ball in an awkward position for me, in a position where I couldn't attack. I was a lot of the time staying neutral and then pressing to try and wrestle the, I suppose, control of the point in my favor and made errors by doing that.

Zarina is very good. She served particularly well today and she was able to get ahead of a lot of her service games. Towards the end I served a lot better to give myself a chance to be dominant in the points.

Q. Tennis Australia has done a lot with Game Insight Group and advanced data and analytics. Tennis Australia has been doing a lot to further the statistical analysis of the sport. Is that something that's given to you? Do you look into stats much in preparation?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: I don't use it, no. No, I don't use that software, whatever software you are talking about. I mean, we have a look at different stats and different things, but, no, I don't use that.

Q. Just to move to a different subject, your thoughts on the cricket result yesterday and Ben Stokes' performance?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Well, it was pretty good. Credit where credit's due. Stokesy was incredible. I think we missed some opportunities and my whole team were glued to it. I have an English trainer, as well. He's had a fantastic 24 hours of feeding it to us and not letting us forget that result.

Yeah, I mean, I'm glued to it. Another couple of tests to go. We will enjoy those as well.

Q. What was your assessment of that result and what do you look for in the coming opportunities?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: I'm not really here to talk about cricket. Look, I enjoy watching it, but I'm not a cricket analyst. I'm not going to try to coach from the sidelines. Just be a spectator and enjoy watching.

Q. Last year's US Open doubles. What does coming back to a place you have had success in the past mean and what do you draw from that?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: It was cool. A bit of a unique feeling, bizarre feeling walking back out on to Arthur Ashe. It was really cool. Different to what it felt like during that match. Obviously it was an incredible atmosphere, and then walking out to practice obviously has a bit of a different buzz.

Incredible memories from my time here in New York last year, an extremely good fortnight of tennis, both in singles and doubles. I'm just glad we're off to a good start here and now we can start really getting our teeth stuck into the tournament.

Q. Do you think you were nervous at all entering Ashe Stadium having been a Grand Slam singles champion or was it just the quality of tennis?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: No, not at all. I think really it was more about pressing a little bit too much and just being a little bit too impatient.

Yeah, it's a beautiful court to play on. It was my first singles match on it. Having played doubles on it before I feel I'm experienced enough to walk out on bigger courts to not let that affect me. It was more just about trying to putt the ball in the right places.

Q. Lauren Davis next. You played her five years ago. A thought on the matchup?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, I mean, I don't even know when I would have played her. Yeah, I mean, Lauren's obviously one of the tougher challenges, playing an American in the US Open. And she's been on a little bit of a heater over the past couple of months and had some good wins and coming back to some of her best stuff.

It's a match that we will prepare as best as we can for tomorrow and then Wednesday we'll be ready to go.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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