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HENGQIN LIFE WTA ELITE TROPHY ZHUHAI

October 27, 2019

Aryna Sabalenka

Zhuhai, China

A. SABALENKA/K. Bertens

6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. You won three tournaments this year, every one of them in China. So do you think it's time to maybe move to China?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, for the next season I would like to win somewhere else instead of China, but also I would like to keep winning in China. But I'm just really happy with this title and with the finish of my singles season, it's really impressive.

Q. I know you got to get to Shenzhen, but how will celebrate tonight?
ARYNA SABALENKA: I don't know, maybe like always take some sweets over there, but I can't, because I play tomorrow. But, I don't know, I'm just happy and it's, I don't need to celebrate, I'm happy inside so that's more important. But maybe I'll eat something, something like sweets or pizza or burger, I don't know (laughing).

Q. Kiki won the first two times you played and you won the two most recent in straight sets. Curious what if anything you did differently in the last two matches and particularly today to give you such success?
ARYNA SABALENKA: I think I played a little bit more aggressive the last two times and stayed calm from the beginning until the end. That's helped me a lot to break her serve and to be consistent on the game. I don't know, I just stayed focused on each point and tried to keep this calm atmosphere inside of me, if I can say it like that. But, yeah, that was the only thing different.

Q. After being called the daughter of China, you were actually holding a true daughter of China standing out on the court and also when lifting the trophy. So how does the idea come from you?
ARYNA SABALENKA: I didn't understand the question, to be honest.

Q. How is the idea comes from you by holding her?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Holding? Oh, the baby. Oh. She was so scared and -- you mean, when they came out on the court, I hold the baby on my -- Okay. Because she was so scared and she couldn't walk, she was shaking, and as soon as they opened the thing and this thing came out, she was scared and she take my leg, she couldn't walk and I just take her in my hands and she was still shaking and a little bit like scared of everything. So then that's how the idea came. But she was so cool and nice and light actually I could hold her. So she was just a little bit scared.

Q. You got the break at the end of the first set when there had been a lengthy delay at the start of that game following the change of ends with the crowd. Do you feel like that slight delay helped you to kind of mentally prepare for that game, because that was a massive game in terms of the match.
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, might be it helped me. I don't know, I was too focused, actually, I didn't hear anything. I was just in each point and nothing could, I don't know, like -- I was just thinking about the every point and it's helped me to play my best today and to compete.

Q. How is going your new collaboration Dmitry? Did he just fix all your troubles?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, I think that's where you saw that we found a way how to work together and try to adjust to each other and it's helped us to stay positive and to focus on the positive things and just to try to keep going. Because, I mean, like you said, our collaboration is really good and it's working really well and I don't really want to lose him as a coach, like it's works really well, why should I try to find someone else.

So, yeah, we just tried to fix all the problems that we had and I think we did it well.

Q. Have you got a special room at home where you keep all your trophies or where will this one go?
ARYNA SABALENKA: You're speaking too quick, I didn't understand anything you said.

Q. Have you got a special room at home where you keep your trophies or where will this one go?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Oh, yeah, see, you can do it. (Laughing).

Yeah, I think we actually need to create a new room for the trophies. But right now like it's no special room, my mom and my grandmother just put it wherever space they have.

And, yeah, we're thinking about the room where, like the big, I don't know, thing on the wall, something, I don't know, we're thinking about that. But maybe a special room. Hopefully I'll win a lot of titles to put in there.

Q. With such superb performance in China this year, so what's the expectation next in China?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Next is Shenzhen, right? The expectation is just to do everything I can and to show our best level of tennis with Elise and just to do our best, that's the expectation.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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