AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 25, 2022

Kaia Kanepi

Press Conference

K. KANEPI/A. Sabalenka

5-7, 6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: You're through to your first Australian Open quarterfinal. Talk us through your emotions following tonight's match.

KAIA KANEPI: I think I would be more happy if I won after two, three match points (smiling). It was really close that I lost the match. I feel a bit exhausted right now. It was really difficult.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What happened to those first set of match points? Were you getting tight?

KAIA KANEPI: I was really tight, yeah. My hand was shaking when I started serving. I didn't make any first serves in, and that added to the pressure.

Q. How did you regroup? How did you recover from that, this moment?

KAIA KANEPI: I almost didn't. She had that match point, too. I guess I was just lucky at the end. So close.

Q. Seemed like there was a lot of crazy drama happening. There was seagulls, birds stopping the match. The lights came on. The umpire obviously calling the match early. The momentum swings.

KAIA KANEPI: It was quite crazy.

Q. How did you stay calm with all that going on?

KAIA KANEPI: I think I felt a bit cold after the seagull scene. Otherwise it wasn't that bad. Actually I was happy to start early and not that late.

Q. What does this Australian Open quarterfinal mean to you? You were saying on court that you thought you would never complete the group of the four Grand Slam quarterfinals, and now you have. So what does that mean to you, that accomplishment?

KAIA KANEPI: I don't know. It just feels great (smiling) that I got Australian Open quarterfinal too. I also didn't think I would play well in Australia, because during my career, I have heard that Australia doesn't suit to everybody, and I thought that I'm just the one who doesn't really like playing here.

But last two years I have played really well here.

Q. What is it about Grand Slams in general that makes you play so well? You've had a lot of these runs at Grand Slams when you haven't been seeded and been able to go deep.

KAIA KANEPI: Maybe I'm more focused on Grand Slams because I like big tournaments, and the Grand Slams are the most important tournaments.

Also, I like that we have days off after matches. The Grand Slams are in big cities and nice atmosphere. Yeah, I guess that's it.

Q. Are you still doing any truck driving?

KAIA KANEPI: I do if I can in the winter when there are ice roads, but last year I couldn't do. Maybe this year.

Q. You have been to the quarterfinals before. You're waiting for a first semifinal. What do you think it will take to get there? You play Iga Swiatek next. What do you think about that opportunity?

KAIA KANEPI: Right now, I don't know, because I need to recover (smiling). We'll see how I feel.

I think that the adrenaline will help, if I might feel tired. We'll see.

Q. On the match you said your hand started shaking a little bit on the match points. It seemed like after that, you were taking a little bit of speed off of the serve and kind of focusing on placement. Is that accurate? What adjustments did you try to make because you were feeling a bit tight and a bit heavy in the hand?

KAIA KANEPI: First, I tried to hit a bit harder with more spin. Then it didn't go in. Then I started to hit a bit slower.

I tried different things to think about than the serve, but I don't think any of them helped (smiling).

Q. And then leading up to that, before you had the match points, you were playing so well in the second and third sets, and I'm curious what you were telling yourself after the first set because you were so close in the first set, as well. That seemed to allow you to be able to play as well as you were up until that point.

KAIA KANEPI: I thought I played well in the first set too. I just had one bad game. I thought that I try to continue and she might not play that well or she might play amazingly well, and then it's gonna end in two sets, but it didn't.

Q. Specifically, how familiar are you with Iga Swiatek's game? Do you watch her a lot? Anything like that? What do you expect in the quarterfinal?

KAIA KANEPI: I haven't watched her, I never played her, and I don't know how her ball feels, so we'll see when I play her. What I expect is to play good.