ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

February 24, 2021

Storm Sanders

Press Conference

S. SANDERS/Y. Putintseva

6-4, 5-7, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. According to ranking, that's the best win ever of your career on the singles court. What's your reaction to that? How do you feel about what you've just achieved?

STORM SANDERS: Yeah, thanks. I didn't know that, actually. So I guess that's -- yeah, it's some good news. It was a tough match, she's a really tough competitor, she runs a lot of balls down and you know she's not going to go away.

And, yeah, I really had to work for every point out there. There were a lot of long rallies, it was windy, it was swirly, but, yeah, I had the crowd supporting me in the end. Especially on the third set I was feeling pretty tired and they really helped me get through.

So it was a tough match but I just had to dig deep and believe in myself and my game and I just stuck to my plan and just went out there and tried to serve well.

In the second I got a little bit tired on serve and got broken in a crucial game late in the second.

So in the third I was like, I'll just focus on my serve and if I get a chance to win some points on her serve I'll just keep trying to apply the pressure and I thought I did that really well.

Q. To win 6-1, against a player, like she knows what to do, she's made Grand Slam quarterfinals, she's a very talented player. How do you think you were able to kind of change the momentum so much in the final set, given what you just said?

STORM SANDERS: Yeah, I think just tried to go back to basics on my serve, not rushing in between points. Like, when I was serving to take a little bit more time. Obviously when it's her serve she's in control of kind of the time and whatnot and I just thought I just got to give it a go, I have nothing to lose out here and I thought I just had to be a bit more aggressive and try to put a little bit more pressure and, yeah, just play on my terms a little bit more and not so much let her take control of the point.

I thought I did that really well early on and I was able to take control and she was the one who had to kind of fight and play catch up.

So I think just starting out a little bit earlier just being a little bit more aggressive really helped me.

Q. How does it feel for you that, coming through the qualifying rounds would have built up some momentum for you. You've got three matches under your belt. Has that been a help for you this week?

STORM SANDERS: A hundred percent. Especially like I came from semifinal at Mixed AO and hadn't played singles since AO qualifying, which feels like a lifetime ago after quarantining and whatnot. But being able to play quallies matches and I still had to play tough matches, I played Pera she's like 66 in the world and Caty McNally who is also a very good player. So those matches I think already helped me because I had to play some tough opponents.

I'm feeling good, I'm seeing the ball really well. I love the conditions here, they're a little bit livelier than at AO. And playing on Show Court 1 it's a little bit hotter as well because we don't have the cover, so I actually really enjoyed it out there. And I think I'll be on Center tomorrow, but I also played a very good match against Alja on Center so, yeah, I'm ready, I'm excited and I can't wait to play tomorrow.

Q. Speaking of Pera, she's 66 in the world, like, could you have believed at the start of the week if someone had said to you you would beat three top-100 players, one of them in the top-30 to make your first WTA 500 quarterfinal?

STORM SANDERS: To be honest, I'm actually not surprised because I've been playing really, really well. I think everyone who's been training with me -- I train with Dasha and Sam Stosur and I think all the coaches are not surprised, I think it's been a long time coming. I haven't actually had that many opportunities to play singles. With coronavirus, my ranking, I wasn't able to get into many events, so I kind of would play whenever I could, but I didn't have a singles schedule.

And, yeah, and I played qualifying in Dubai and I played Kaja Juvan who is a very good player, I think she cracked top-100 last AO, which is a tough first round for me in qualifying.

Then, yeah, to have this opportunity I'm like, I got to make the most of it. I don't know how many singles events I'm going to be able to play, with where my ranking was.

I think now after the win today I've pretty much cracked 200 or career high, which is awesome, I probably wasn't expecting that just because it was a big event this week. But hopefully that gets me in qualifying to French Open and also the WTA events so I will get the opportunity to play more singles this year.

Q. How much does this result mean to you given all of the struggles you had with your singles career? I remember speaking to you at the Showdown maybe in 2020 and you or 2019 and you said that you won't weren't even sure if you would play singles again. Considering all of that and that history you've gone through, what does this mean?

STORM SANDERS: Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah, when I played that I hadn't played singles for two years and then I won actually, in SA too, so maybe there's something in the water here, I obviously am doing very well in Adelaide.

I didn't really get to play that much in 2020 and I just kind of could play where I could and now to be able to actually back up some wins -- I've just been one win against a quality opponent, but actually to have back-to-back-to-back which has been awesome and it gives me the confidence and belief in my game that it's not just one match, I can do it consistently over a tournament and hopefully, yeah, I can keep going. I play Bencic tomorrow, she's top in the world. It's going a really tough match, but I'm going to go out there stick to my game plan have fun and just go for it. I have absolutely nothing to lose. I'm in the quarters here and, yeah, I'm just going to go out and have fun and, yeah, just fight for every point.