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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2009

Samantha Stosur

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

S. STOSUR/K. Zakopalova
7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What are your feelings after that?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I guess very happy, a bit of relief. Yeah, everything. Just really happy to be in the second round.

Q. The first set looked to be yours well and truly, then everything started to unravel a little bit. Talk us through that.
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, obviously 5-1 up, I was playing really well, not having too many troubles out there. Then kind of maybe took my foot off the pedal a little bit and she started playing well, going for things a little bit more, got herself back into it.
Obviously physically I started struggling a little bit as well. So I think all those things combined made for a pretty tight first set.

Q. What happened with your calf, was it?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, it started in my left calf, then it went into my right calf, then I had both going. Last few points of the tiebreak, I guess I was pretty lucky she missed that return on that set point at 6-5.
Yeah, I don't know, just tried to stay calm and not get too worked up about anything so it wouldn't get worse in the second set.

Q. Could you have gone again? Was there more?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: It kind of stayed on, like longer points, especially off my serve, that kind of thing. I was still making quite a few errors, but I was trying to keep the points short, go for it more, not allow it to get worse.

Q. Did you enjoy it out there?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, it was great. I don't think there's anywhere better to play for an Australian than a night match on Rod Laver Arena. It was really exciting. Good to be out there.

Q. Bernard has to do it tomorrow night.
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Is he tomorrow night? He'll enjoy it, I'm sure. He's got nothing to lose. I don't know who he plays. He can carry it pretty well. Yeah, I'm sure he'll just be really excited to be playing.

Q. What do you think cause that slump for yourself late in the first set?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I don't know. I never want to take it easy. I know a set's never over until you win that last point. I guess it's a good lesson to learn. Don't ever think it's over, keep the foot down, not let your opponent even have a slight chance of getting back in the match.

Q. She took advantage of those chances to level the score. What did you make of her match?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I thought she started playing quite well. Obviously then, you know, she went for it a bit more, started hitting some more winners and all that. She's a tough player to play. She hits the ball really flat and pretty hard. When it comes deep on you, it's not always easy.
I had to try to stick to my game plan, execute that, yeah, kind of not give her what she liked.

Q. Your serve was about 48% or 50%. Obviously came through well for you in the tiebreak. How did you find your serving game tonight?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, I mean, I'd like it a little bit higher percentage than that. I think the second set I tried to go for a little bit more than what maybe I should have in the end.
But, yeah, that's something I can try and work on. The last couple weeks in Sydney and Brisbane, I've been serving a much higher percentage than that. Hopefully going into my match on Thursday, I can improve that a little bit.

Q. 7-Love in the final tiebreak, is that something you ever had before?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I don't think I've ever won 7-Love. As I said out there, I was pretty happy that it happened for the first time if it was.
Yeah, you never expect that to happen. She made some errors in that tiebreak. Kind of lucky for me to get through it.

Q. Does that give you a bit of confidence, producing your best at that time?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Oh, for sure. Yeah, I was trying to hang in there and get it to a tiebreak, trying to hold serve at 6-5. To come through like that, I was really happy with it.

Q. What do you think of your game overall? What do you think you need to work on before the next round?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Well, I think I play Lisicki next round, which is quite a different opponent. She's got a very big serve, hits the ball really hard, goes for everything. We played each other a couple of times. I've had good results in the past. I'll be looking to what happened in those couple of matches, sit down with Dave, work out a good game plan and go from there.
There's nothing really that stands out drastically that I have to go out on the practice court and work on.

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