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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 25, 2010

Victoria Azarenka

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

V. AZARENKA/V. Zvonareva
4-6, 6-4, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. 3-1 down in the second, 4-2 down in the second, getting a little frustrated. How did you get out of all that?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Um, I wouldn't say I was getting frustrated.

Q. You looked as if you were.
VICTORIA AZARENKA: No, I was just trying to push myself to show a better game, to show more fight. You cannot really say with a nice words to pump yourself up.
Sometimes for me I just need to get angry at myself to get better tennis. But I wasn't getting frustrated.

Q. I think you guys know each other pretty well. Played doubles together and this is the first time for you to win against her. What are the differences between this time and others?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: You know, I think I'm a little bit different player right now. I think I did some improvements in my off-season that I really needed, especially mentally with my shots. I just think I just got tougher mentally also. That no matter what moment, I'm still gonna fight, still gonna try to play my best tennis, and it really helped me.
I had some tough matches in Sydney, so it really helped me to get ready for these kind of matches.

Q. How important is your confidence to have won the last ten games of this match when you're playing Serena in the next match?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: It has nothing to do with playing Serena. Serena is a great player. She's been showing unbelievable tennis here. I'm just really happy to have a chance to play against her in the quarterfinals. I just want to go out there and show my game and we'll see how it goes.

Q. Do you feel like it's a chance to make amends for last year?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I'm not gonna make up for anything. Last year happened. I forget about it already. I just moved on. This is new year and new challenge for me. I'm just gonna go out there and try my best.

Q. Did you think the first set was of very high standard? You were both playing very well in the first set. Did you feel that playing it, that you were both playing very well?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I think the whole match was pretty high level. A lot of good winners and rallies. I just think that I had some breakpoints in the first set and I didn't really take any chances because Vera, she was serving really good and didn't give me many opportunities.
I think the biggest difference was in second and third set I started taking my chances and being more aggressive.

Q. Serena looked in awesome form today. What do you think you'll need to do to beat her?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: She's the No. 1 player in the world. You have to show your best tennis and be aggressive and try to keep up with her level and be extremely tough. She knows how to play big matches and how to handle herself in tough moments. You just have to be really prepared.

Q. How did you go with the crowd tonight? They were making a bit of noise.
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, it's fine for me. I did not pay attention too much. The people were also cheering for me. So that's the happy thing for me. I'm really glad that they all stayed there, even though they made some noises. It's a great effort from them.

Q. You hadn't beat her in the last four times. What enabled you to win tonight?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: As I said, it's just little things that I improved in my game I think helped me out to be a little bit more consistent and aggressive, and, you know, especially mentally. I got tougher. I enjoyed playing on the court so much more than I used to now.
I don't know, I just can see that all of my hard work are paying off.

Q. Your current coach is the former coach of Vera, right?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yes.

Q. Do you think you took advantage of that?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I don't know. I think Vera started playing a little bit different herself and started to be more aggressive. I don't know what happened before with him and Vera. It's not my concern. And I didn't take any advantage of anything, because she's practicing with my old coach.

Q. When did you start working with him?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: In December.

Q. What is the difference between your new and old coach, do you feel?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, he makes me more of a complete player, more all-around player. I can bring more weapons to my game now and just more fun.

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