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July 21, 2007
NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK
MIKE SCANLAN: Maria, congratulations on your win. Coming into today, you had played the most holes of anyone, you played 60 holes after this morning, and I know I spoke to you the other day and you said you were kind of looking forward to playing a lot on the weekend. So can you just talk about how you played today and how maybe you got over maybe being a little tired from playing so many holes?
MARIA HJORTH: Yeah, actually I didn't feel too tired. I was ready to go out this morning and ready to play the match against Angela. We both played really solid and none of us made any mistakes really. It just came down to the wire again.
This afternoon, it was a really quick turnaround. I only had about 20 minutes to turn around, and so I think I came off like the first and second holes just really was a little bit slow with my body and just wasn't really awake in there.
Then, you know, I just said to myself, you know, "Come on, wake up," and I got going. And I played really solid in the afternoon, too.
Q. Do you look at this week, the players who are remaining, I don't think there is a side higher than 10th possibly; do you go into this week that given the nature of the event, it's an opportunity for someone like yourself to upset a series of players?
MARIA HJORTH: Yeah, I think so, because match play you never know what can happen. I think it's really, really important to just be out there, really grind your hearts out and make sure that even if you have a bad hole, you know, it's just one dropped point, 1-down or whatever. So you know that on the next hole, you can come back and get it back.
So I think match play for sure, you know, it's anyone's game when you start off on the first tee and you really feel like you have a chance. You just have to look at your own game and know your capability that you have to play.
Q. What did you see in Meaghan this afternoon in terms of -- I know you're focusing on your own game, but did you see a player that was struggling probably more than she had early this week?
MARIA HJORTH: No, she played well. She just really struggled with her putting this afternoon. She had a few pretty bad 3-putts where she gave me a few holes. Other than that, she played solid. She's very straight off the tee, and she was hitting a lot of good irons into greens, but just didn't really get a hold of the pace in the afternoon.
Q. Is there any part of your game in these four matches that's been consistent, what do you think as been the strength of your game this week so far?
MARIA HJORTH: Well, I find that, you know, hitting the ball off the tee, that's usually where I sometimes have a little bit of a problem.
And this week has been really, really good off the tee. We've had a great strategy off the tee and not hitting too many drives; I just want to make sure I'm in play. I want to make sure I'm out there in distance so hitting rescue or 3-wood off the tee. That's been the main part this week. Because of that I've been able to hit a lot of greens from there and have a lot of birdie chances.
Q. Is there any part of your game that you just feel is really well-suited particularly to match play, a reason you would do so well in match play?
MARIA HJORTH: Well, sometimes if you play with shorter hitters, they feel it's really difficult to play with a long hitter. I guess I'm considered as a longer hitter, so that sometimes can be a bit of a help. I think also being able to have spin on the ball on these greens, because they are really starting to firm up a lot and be really quick. So I think that is a big advantage, too.
Q. When you go into tomorrow, obviously you have the semi final in the morning; is it easy or is it a little difficult not to look ahead and think, you know, 'If I get past this first match, I'll be playing for the championship?'
MARIA HJORTH: Yeah, both I guess. But you really, really have to make sure that you don't do that mistake and look too far ahead. You have to be able to really play one hole at a time and try to win that hole and see where that takes you.
MIKE SCANLAN: Maria, congratulations and good luck tomorrow.
End of FastScripts
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