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CHINA OPEN

September 30, 2019

Bianca Andreescu

Beijing, China

B. ANDREESCU/A. Sasnovich

6-2, 2-6, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I notice you came out looking a little bit more relaxed after the second set. What would you say your mindset was for the last set?
BIANCA ANDREESCU: Well, I think I play my best tennis when I'm a little bit more relaxed. I felt like in the second set I was too tense. But she was playing really well. I think I was just getting down on myself too much.

In the third set I just wanted to stay as positive as I could and just stay relaxed, continue going for my shots.

Q. What are some things you usually do when you're feeling mentally down to bring it back?
BIANCA ANDREESCU: I breathe a lot. I think breathing is a really important tool. It helps me a lot. It just gets me in the present moment. So I try to do that as much as I can during my matches, even if I'm up.

Q. What were you pleased with in terms of how you were approaching that first match in a while? In terms of the nerves, when did they start to dissipate a little bit?
BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah, I was a little bit nervous before the match. It's my first match after a big win. I just tried to have the same mindset as I do in all of my matches. I wanted to just keep the momentum going.

I'm on a roll right now. Hopefully I can just keep it up because I think it gives me a lot of confidence.

Q. Does it feel like you're on a roll? You had the big win, you had a little bit of a break, you have time to process everything that's kind of happened, now it's a brand-new swing of the season. Did you feel, stepping back on court, the momentum that you had built over the summer hard courts?
BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah, definitely. I don't want to sound like cocky or anything, but I kind of forgot how it feels to lose, which I think is a good thing. When I do visualize and meditate, I always make sure to feel the feeling of myself winning. It's good that I forgot about the other feeling (smiling).

Q. How hard was it to step back on the plane to head out to finish the season, after relaxing, going through all the promotional stuff after the US Open? Was it easy to be motivated to make the trip and finish off the season or was it difficult?
BIANCA ANDREESCU: It was definitely motivating. After being off for, like, only four or five days, I just wanted to get back into the rhythm of things. It's a habit right now for me, being in the gym, being on the court.

I definitely would rather play a tournament than train, honestly. I was definitely looking forward to coming here and finishing off the year strong.

Q. You're getting Elise Mertens next. You had a tough battle against her at the US Open. What did you learn through that match? How do you see the next one?
BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah, I think that was the toughest match of the tournament for me. I'm going to go into it like I do every other match. I kind of have an idea of how she plays, she knows how I play now. I think it will be a tough battle no matter what.

What I was doing well at the US Open when I was winning the points was I putting pressure right from the start of the point. Hopefully I can do that on Wednesday. I don't think I play tomorrow, so...

Q. I think before the tournament you mentioned the reason you pulled out of Wuhan was because you needed to listen to your body, you've been injured this year, basically take care of yourself. That seemed quite impressive because there's so many examples of players your age or older not managing their schedules very well, playing a lot, getting burnt out. Where did you get the perspective to take control of your schedule? Is there someone advising you to do that? Not everyone seems to have that scheduling discipline.
BIANCA ANDREESCU: I think it's both. It's also through experience. Like you said, I was pretty injured this past year, so I didn't want to make the same mistake like I did going into Miami Open after Indian Wells. At the time I was feeling really good. I just wanted to keep the momentum going. But maybe I pushed it too much. I'm not sure.

Now I don't want to take any more risks because I've learnt that if I'm healthy, I can accomplish a lot of things. So I think it's a matter of just going through that process. Also the team around you, as well.

I actually would like to play tournament after tournament after tournament. Sometimes it's just too much. I have a good team around me to tell me to calm down. Sometimes I can be a lot (smiling).

Q. You had a few weeks now to fully process what you achieved at the US Open. Has the enormity of what you accomplished there now fully settled in? Any new perspective on what you did do there?
BIANCA ANDREESCU: Yeah, I think it's definitely settling in, slowly but surely. Not fully, though. I don't know when that will happen.

But I think I've learnt a lot from the past couple of weeks, during the tournament, even after the tournament with all the media, all that. I think I'm managing it really well. I think that's why I feel good coming into this tournament.

Q. You've qualified for Shenzhen, so that's news. In terms of looking ahead towards that tournament, round-robin format, playing players that most likely you haven't played yet in terms of top-10 players. What are you most looking forward to with that experience? What do you expect?
BIANCA ANDREESCU: Oh, gosh. Well, yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to that tournament. That was my goal for a couple of months now. I'm really, really happy that I got to qualify.

And, yeah, being amongst the top athletes in your sport I think is going to be an amazing milestone in my career. I think I can do really well there. I have a lot of tough competition before I can lift up that trophy, if I do.

I'm just going to take it match after match. I think I play my best tennis when I play top players. Yeah, I think I can do good things there.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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