MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 28, 2021

Elise Mertens

Press Conference

E. MERTENS/A. Kontaveit

6-2, 0-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What did you do to reset yourself after losing that middle set 6-Love in order to be able to pull out today's victory?

ELISE MERTENS: Yeah, you know, it just didn't work out in the second set. I just tried to refresh. I took that heat break, so that kind of held. I put my ice towel there.

And, you know, there is another set that has to be played, and I just tried to give much more energy. Also tried to, you know, put more balls in the court in general because that was kind of necessary.

But I think mentally I was prepared for a battle, even though it was maybe not my best day. But it's kind of the little change that I made during the third set that got me the win, and that's how I'm going to look at it positively.

Q. How important was it to be able to play in front of a crowd this afternoon? I know your match was moved to the larger Grandstand court.

ELISE MERTENS: Yeah, it's always nice to play on center court, that's for sure. We had a little crowd there. It was amazing that people could come and watch. In the heat it definitely helped me to keep pushing, but it was fun.

Q. Following up on that question, what are your thoughts of playing Naomi in the next round?

ELISE MERTENS: I mean, it's always a tough opponent. I have played her in, well, New York. So, yeah, I know how she plays.

I mean, she's in form, she's winning a lot. It's going to be an interesting match what I can do against her, but I'm definitely gonna give 100%.