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QATAR TOTAL OPEN

February 23, 2020

Garbine Muguruza

Doha, Qatar

G. MUGURUZA/D. Kasatkina

7-5, 5-7, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: First question.

Q. Tough match, did you expect to be so tough and do you think you tried a little too hard in the first set and maybe that's why or even in the second set, that's why she took advantage of that?
GARBIÑE MUGURUZA: I was expecting a tough match. All the matches that we have played has been long and three sets and tough matches. So I was prepared for another type of match like that. I feel like I had a lot of opportunities maybe to step it up earlier, in the first set, in the second set, but, yeah, I think I could have played better at certain moments but the end it's a victory and I'm happy for it.

Q. Just another example of having to fight through and it seems like seeing these tight three-setters that you've been playing this year that there's a lot of positivity in how you're engaging with the battle in the match. Can you talk about that a little bit, do you feel like that there's a different or approach this year to that at all?
GARBIÑE MUGURUZA: There's not a different approach, I really don't care what the score it is, a victory is a victory and I'm not -- I'm looking forward for tough matches, I'm not trying to be worried when it gets to a third set or something like that. I've been playing -- last year I played a lot of three-set match, they didn't go my way, and this year I'm back at it again and just going more for it and being a little bit more patient and it's not nothing really different than I'm thinking or something, just putting the fight and this year it's going my way.

Q. Just talk about the third set tonight in terms of being able to come through. She was keeping a good amount of pressure on your service games but it seemed like you were very confident that you could break her when you needed to.
GARBIÑE MUGURUZA: Yeah, there was a lot of breaks in the third set. Well, we played and we know that it's a tough battle between her style of game and my style of game and I was happy that having 5-3 in the first set and 5-2 in the second, when it came to third set I managed to close it up and not get more complicated in the third set.

Q. Is it something about her that she seems to push you every time, because your matches going to three sets, she beat you twice last time. And one more question, if I may add, after playing the final at the Australian Open and coming back here as a finalist, you didn't play here last year, the year before that, how different is it in a Premier 5 tournament in Doha than the other tournaments that you would play?
GARBIÑE MUGURUZA: I feel like she always brings a very good level of tennis when she has to at least play me. I think that probably my game, maybe she likes my game, I don't know, but we feel like both very motivated to get the win and with the history of the matches we know that it's a battle.

And about your other question, the difference is just that it's one is a Grand Slam, one is a Premier 5, but the matches are the same, you play the same players. You go to a Grand Slam you're not playing somebody different, it's just dealing with maybe the fact that it's one of the biggest tournaments. But I feel like you come here, you're going to play the same players that are going to play maybe better, so there's no really easy tournament or it's constantly hard.

Q. In such tournaments, even the Grand Slam or a Premier 5 tournament, when you face such tough matches in the very first round how do you keep yourself going for the next few matches? You're probably expecting more tougher matches, so how do you focus, how do you keep your focus, how do you prepare for the other matches which will also probably be tough?
GARBIÑE MUGURUZA: Yeah, it always is tough. When you have a tough match you just try to recover, prepare for your next battle. Every match is very different, also every opponent is different style, everything is new. But I'm happy that I get to prepare, that means that I'm going through, you know, no matter if it's tough or not, I feel like I gave myself another chance to go on Tuesday.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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