INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

September 15, 2020

Garbine Muguruza

Press Conference

G. MUGURUZA/S. Stephens

6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you just talk through the match, the difficulty of having the rain delay, and what do you think was the key to getting the win today?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, it was unexpected, because I checked the weather, and it seemed it was okay. I played here in Rome already like late during the night and raining and cold, so I just had to adapt.

I knew I had a tough match against Sloane. She's a great player. Also in clay. So I'm just happy with my performance since is just the third match I am able to play in a long time.

Q. Do you feel more prepared for this kind of three or four weeks on clay than maybe you felt for US Open? I can't remember if you were training on clay during the seven months off or if you were training primarily on hard court.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: So, no, I did train on hard court, and then just before playing the tournaments, then I had to stop for a while due to my ankle, so I kind of decide last minute to go play US Open.

So here I had a little bit more preparation, a little bit more time. I feel, yeah, a little bit more prepared, because I didn't decide at last minute like the last tournament.

Q. Looking ahead, you play Coco Gauff next. What do you think of her rise, and what do you think will be the important thing for that match?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: It's a good match. I've never played against her.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to play as many matches as possible. Yeah, she's playing great, she's having a great breakthrough, or she -- well, I think she's playing great.

Yeah, looking forward for that match.