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WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP WOMEN'S OPEN

August 11, 2010

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

CINCINNATI, OHIO

A. PAVLYUCHENKOVA/E. Dementieva
6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Congratulations on your win today. Is this one of the biggest wins of your career? I know you've beaten Venus Williams. This has to be pretty high up there.
ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah, thanks. Yeah, of course this one is one of the biggest in my career also. And especially we played a few times I think and I lost that few times, so I really expect the match would be really tough today.
I also respect her a lot as an athlete. She's a really great player, and she's one of the best in Russia. Also much older than me, so it was also a little bit tough mentally.
But I'm happy I won.

Q. You said you expected it to be tough. Was it a little easier than you thought?
ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Well, it wasn't easy, but, I mean, you know, it was quite quick, in two sets, and the score, you know, so I just didn't expect that.

Q. How did you feel prior to the match about going against the No. 3 seed here?
ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Well, I had nothing to lose, you know. I wasn't No. 3 seed here; she was. Well, I just want to enjoy the game and show the good game and just focus on the future, you know, to try to work on my game for the future.
So that was my object.

Q. You won a title in Istanbul recently. You have a nice winning streak going on now. How does that help your confidence?
ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Oh, yeah, of course it helps a lot. It's better to come to a big tournament after winning than after losing first round or in the quallies or something like this.
Again, it's another tournament, another players, another matches, and so I just forget about my win in Istanbul and just focused on Hantuchova, today Elena, and then tomorrow another match.

Q. Was there one aspect of your game that was working particularly well for you today that was the difference for you, you think?
ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Well, yeah. You know, I remember the previous matches again her, and I think I had a lot of chances actually in the previous matches. But I just -- at the deciding points I was going for it too much and sometimes rush and missing it, you know.
So just this time I tried not to make the same mistake, and I tried to be more consistent in my game.

Q. You've had a lot of success in smaller tournaments before, but you haven't yet made it very deep in a Grand Slam. You came close in Wimbledon, fourth round.
ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: No, third.

Q. Third round. You lost to Wozniacki in a close match. Can you talk about what you need to do to get to that next level at the big tournaments, do you think?
ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah, well, it's just the question of my consistency, because in first, second round I was playing quite solid. And after further, against better players, I was just -- you know, sometimes I didn't believe enough or I was, you know, I was going for it like against Elena before and missing a lot.
So yeah, I have to be more consistent and to believe every match that I can win, and just play my game every match.

Q. She felt like her game was off a little bit today. She felt like she couldn't focus or wasn't concentrating. Did you notice that in her at all?
ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah, well, I noticed that, especially she didn't really start well today. I tried to take advantage of it, and so...
But, still, you know, I tried to play and to win the points like I didn't expect her to miss. Because every time I was trying to expect her to miss, it didn't work.
And especially against the players high level like this, you just have to play myself.

Q. This is the third time that you have played her, and she won the previous two times. When you're getting so close to the end, do you get excited about it and start losing focus?
ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah, a little bit. I was a little bit excited, and nervous also a little bit, when it was closer to the end. But I just had one goal in my head again: to play my game; to play myself and go for it. I mean, don't expect her to miss, you know.
And I had to continue playing quite aggressively, because every time I was just trying to put the ball in or I was becoming softer, she was making winners.

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