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January 11, 2011

Samantha Stosur

SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES

S. KUZNETSOVA/S. Stosur
3-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What do you make of that?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Well, I think it was a pretty decent match. I'm not too unhappy about the way I played. I thought I played really well at the start. The whole first set was great. Just played a bad service game that second time when I lost serve, and that kind of really changed the momentum of the match.
In the third was right back in it again. Just a few points here and there. Overall pretty pleased. Definitely things I would have liked to do better and that I'll for sure work on.
Yeah, it wasn't a bad match.

Q. Obviously lost first round last year and went to Melbourne and made the last 16 there. Pretty confident you can turn it around again?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, especially even though it's two second-round loses, I'm actually quite happy with the way I'm playing, and think I'm in a good spot for Melbourne and still looking forward to obviously the Australian Open.
But if I could look back on this time last year to now, I'm feeling 100% better than I was. I made round of 16, so hopefully that's a sign that I can at least repeat that.

Q. Do you have any family in Queensland affected by the floods?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: No, I don't, which is very lucky. I think my auntie lives kind of on the fringe and they've got a bit of water in the walls, but nothing too bad. I guess fingers crossed that everything still stays okay up there.

Q. What are the things you said you wanted to work on heading into Melbourne?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I think I could work on my return games a bit better. I think I served well today. My percentages were a lot better. Except for the games I lost I served quite well and probably didn't give myself enough opportunities when I was returning.
Just in general, maybe move up the court more and just go out there and keep working on what I do well. I'm not going to freak out and think I've got to go out and work on ten different things. Just keep feeling good and go into next week feeling as confidence as I can.

Q. The inevitable question you've probably been getting, probably the pressure again has got to you, that, you know, two second rounds and people expect you to get to the quarterfinals at least.
SAMANTHA STOSUR: No, I don't think that's a factor in these two loses. I said it before, I think Jarka played extremely well when she beat me, and today I played a very good player as well and lost 6-4 in the third.
I thought I played well. I think I can play better than what I did today, but overall I'm not too unhappy. I don't think that all those outside things had anything to do with today.

Q. Your groundstrokes, do you feel as though the timing wasn't there today?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, it was hard to get a little of rhythm the way she plays as well. I'm sure people probably say it about me as well. You can hit some really heavy balls and hard balls and then make a few errors.
I think both of us were kind of going through patches on and off today of having some really good rallies and hitting and striking the ball well, and then a few unforced errors would creep in back to back.
It's not easy to keep rhythm when you're playing like that. I guess that's the way of working out against different opponents. Not everyone strikes the ball cleanly and it's in your hitting zone every single time. So it's just one of those things. Every opponent is different.

Q. With Serena out next week, do you think the Australian Open is winnable?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: For me? I would like to think so. I'm going to go in there thinking I can. But there's a long way from thinking you can do it and playing a first round to holding the trophy at the end.
Even though Serena is out, there's still 127 other people in the draw with me that want to do that same thing. You know, there's still everyone else that's No. 1 to 10 in the world that you've got to get through at the end of the tournament as well.
She's just one player that you've got in the mix that you usually have to beat.

Q. Is there a certain sense of pride though, 20 years since we've had a top 5 seed in the Australian Open in the women's draw?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, absolutely. I guess I've broken a few droughts recently, which is a good feeling. It's great to be seeded top 5. Hopefully that's going to mean I can be in a good position. Hopefully I can live up to that seeding and get through.

Q. When will you head to Melbourne?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Maybe Friday. I haven't totally decided yet. I think with qualifying starting down there it's pretty difficult to get on court, so it might be a good idea to stay here.
I guess you've got to try and stay away from the rain wherever you are in this country at the moment.

Q. So would you like to have a few hits around Sydney before Friday?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, I'll keep practicing for sure. I have a day off somewhere between now and my first round, but, yeah, haven't really discussed much of that yet.

Q. What went wrong in those two service games in the second set?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Um, can't exactly remember the first one. Pretty sure the second one I probably didn't make any first serves and lost it to love pretty quick. If you're going to lose serve, you want to at least try and make your opponent work for it. I don't think I did that if I lost them to love or pretty easy, which is the disappointing thing. If they come out and play a great game, then too good.
But, yeah, I think that's -- you never want to lose serve if you lose concentration or don't make a first serve or make easy errors.

End of FastScripts

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