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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2009

Samantha Stosur

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

E. DEMENTIEVA/S. Stosur
7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You failed to put away the big points. Is that a lack of match practice or you need more match practice? Lack of concentration?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Uhm, I don't know. I don't think it's a lack of match practice or anything like that. I think it's just probably a matter of when I get in those situations believing that I, you know, can do it.
I've won five games, why don't I win six, no matter who the opponent is across the net? I think maybe it's a bit of concentration. Yeah, probably just a bit of that.

Q. Apparently one of the journalists said in a press conference before when you're up 5-2, you lost 15 of the next 17 points. What happened? Did she lift or did you go away?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: At 5-2, she played a decent service game. Won it 40-Love. That's four points. Big deal. She's 5-3. Yeah, I guess when I was serving at 5-3, I can't exactly remember what happened, but I think I lost it pretty easily, which when you're serving for the set you can't really afford to do that. I can't remember if I didn't make any first serves or what the deal was. I'd have to watch it.
Yeah, I don't know, I guess at 5-All, it was good that I came back from Love-40 and then held. It at least made her hold serve again. Yeah, against a player, 4 in the world, I guess you can't really lose that many points out of 17 if you're trying to win a set.

Q. Do you look at tonight as a case of opportunity lost?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, well, I guess every time you go on the court, it's an opportunity. This time I didn't quite follow through or quite get, you know, the win and all that.
But it's certainly something I can learn from. Hopefully next time I'm in that same situation and have the same kind of opportunity, I can get through it. I think I can do it. It's just a matter of getting over this hump and doing it.

Q. Must be encouraging knowing you can compete with the top players at this stage.
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Oh, definitely. I mean, I think there's lots of positives from this week and last week in Sydney. I've lost to No. 2 and No. 4 in the world in matches that one, I had match points, and, one that I served for the first set. Who knows what can happen if you get a set up.
You know, as much as it's disappointing right now, I think there's something really good to take out of it and build on for the rest of the year.

Q. You both had trouble on your service games tonight. Was it the conditions or...
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I don't know. I guess, I mean, she's obviously a very good returner. I don't think I served as well as what I'm capable of. That's for sure. Down one end in particular when we were against the wind, it was pretty hard down there. It was hard to get the ball up. Probably favored the returner a little bit more with the way both of us were serving.
I don't know, I think -- I don't think it's a big -- I don't think Elena would ever say there's never any service breaks in her matches. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't quite hold serve when I got a break up in both sets.

Q. Do you think she can go all the way?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I don't see why not. I guess it's still early being fourth round. She's certainly is on one hell of a roll at the moment and playing very well. You know, I think she's got as great an opportunity as anyone else that's still in.

Q. Where to now?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I got doubles tomorrow, so I'll play that. Yeah, I'll play through the doubles tournament and go to Perth for Fed Cup.

Q. What are your aims for the rest of the year?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: It's just to keep playing well, keep building on my game, then who knows where I'll get to. I don't know, my ranking might be in the 30s or something now, which is really, really great for me to be in that spot from these tournaments in January.
Hopefully I can build on that and get in the top 30 and back to my highest ranking.

Q. She described you as a top-20 player. What do you think you've got to do to get in there? Anything technically or...
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I don't know, I think if you break down my game shot by shot, I'm probably good enough each shot. I guess it's just a matter of putting it all together. When you are 5-2 up on a top-five player, you've got to win those matches or win those sets.
But, uhm, I don't know, hopefully it can come. I've got to keep plugging away and hopefully I'll eventually get there.

Q. It seemed like you gave yourself the best chance in that first set by mixing up the play a fair bit, moving her around a lot more than the second set. Why the difference in the style of play?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I didn't really mean to change it. Certainly wasn't a tactic to not -- to stop what was working (laughter). In that first set, things were going very well. I was really clear about what I wanted to do, had a fair idea about how she was going to play and what her favorite shots were, weaknesses, all that, how I could try and exploit those. I was really clear with what I wanted to be doing out there. I think that's why I did start so well.
Second set, I don't really know (laughter). I'll have to watch it and I guess just break it down and see if I did change things or if she lifted, yeah, and work it out.

Q. What ran through your head when you were sitting down at the end of the first set, you had your face in the towel? Close shot on the screen, and your head was down. What were you thinking about then?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: First, I was just trying to calm down. I got a little bit, I guess, over- hyperactive in the end of the first set. It was pretty exciting. Just wanted to I guess calm down and start again, I guess not dwell on, you know, being up and losing the set, and just try and start well. That's all I was trying to think of. I guess when she left the court and there were a few extra minutes there, I could have just kept wondering, but I tried to stay on the job and get a good start in that second set.

End of FastScripts

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