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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 19, 2006

Iveta Benesova

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Iveta, please.

Q. You had some upsets so far. Where would you rate this one?

IVETA BENESOVA: This is definitely the best win in my whole career. It's good that it happened at the Grand Slam, especially. It's the best tournament for me. Yeah, I'm so excited. It was the best match I ever played. I'm really happy.

Q. Who has been the biggest influence on your career? Did you have an idol growing up?

IVETA BENESOVA: Yeah, I had many, many idols when I was little. It was like Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, then Martina Hingis was around, so it was her. Yeah, but now I don't have any more no one.

Q. You could end up playing Martina in the next round.

IVETA BENESOVA: Yeah, that's true. Yeah. It would be an honor for me, I think. I admired her when she played. She is a great player. I liked her a lot on the court. I'm really excited about that. But she hasn't won yet, but I think she will, so...

Q. What do you think about the way Mary Pierce played today?

IVETA BENESOVA: Yeah, definitely it wasn't the best day for her today. She made many errors. She was missing a lot. She can play much better definitely. But she gave me the chances, and I'm happy I could use them. It's really good for me to know that I can beat top players.

Q. How did you manage to come back in the second set?

IVETA BENESOVA: I was just, you know, focusing on every single point, and I was fighting. Again, she gave me the chance when I broke her at 3-5 down. Yeah, then I hold my serve. I really used the chances today, so I'm happy.

Q. Take us through match point. Your forehand was overruled. Did you think it was in?

IVETA BENESOVA: Yeah, I think it was in definitely, yeah.

Q. What did you tell yourself you had to do before you broke her in the second set, when you were down 5-3?

IVETA BENESOVA: Yeah, it will be good to hold my serve and to made it for 5-All. Yeah, I was just, you know, focused on each point. That was it. No big strategies, nothing like that.

Q. And the dropshot on match point.

IVETA BENESOVA: Yeah, it was awesome. I didn't make it through the whole match. You know, it was big rally, long rally. You know, I didn't know what to do else, so I tried the dropshot. Yeah, it was good enough.

Q. You'll remember it for a while?

IVETA BENESOVA: Yeah, definitely. It was the best shot of the match.

Q. What did you especially do better in the match today than the matches before that you lost against her?

IVETA BENESOVA: I remember I played her a year ago in Antwerp and I won three games. I felt like a ball boy on the court because she was hitting winners everywhere. Today she was totally different. She gave me the chances from the beginning, and she was missing a lot. It wasn't her day. Yeah, I was just -- you know, I was putting the ball in, trying to go for a winner. I did the best I could today.

Q. When you heard that Hingis was coming back to tennis, did you think about the possibility of playing her? Did that cross your mind when you heard she was coming back?

IVETA BENESOVA: No, I didn't think of that I could play against her. But it's really good that she's back. I really enjoy watching her on the court. She's great player for the WTA Tour. It's awesome she's back.

Q. Did you watch the other night?

IVETA BENESOVA: I will, yeah.

Q. Did you watch when she played her first match?

IVETA BENESOVA: Yeah, yeah.

Q. On television?

IVETA BENESOVA: Yeah, it was really good. She play well.

Q. As she was a heroine of yours, do you think you could possibly be intimidated by her presence on the other side of the net?

IVETA BENESOVA: I don't know.

Q. Is that something that worries you?

IVETA BENESOVA: No. I just try to focus on my side. Yeah, we'll see. She hasn't won yet. Nothing to worry about yet (laughter).

Q. You have won a nice upset today. What confidence do you bring into the next match, whether it's Hingis or otherwise?

IVETA BENESOVA: Well, it's definitely I will be much more confident. I always wanted to play good tennis against the top players. I was doing sometimes better, sometimes worse. But I've never beat such a player like her. Yeah, definitely I would be much more confident. I'm in third round, so I have nothing to lose, so we'll see what's going to happen.

Q. What did she tell you at the net at the end?

IVETA BENESOVA: She said that I played really great match today and good luck for the rest of the tournament. It was very nice.

End of FastScriptsâ€¦.

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