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BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 14, 2011

Philipp Kohlschreiber

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

P. KOHLSCHREIBER/R. Soderling
7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Did you feel like you were playing against an injured guy, or was it just a regular match?
PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER: Oh, well, he took one medical timeout, or not really one, which physio came on court. I knew that he was sick in beginning of the tournament, that he had a flu and I he pulled out from doubles.
Actually, I didn't see or didn't recognize really much that he had, I don't know, a foot injury or something else.
Well, what should I say? I'm happy about my victory. Yeah, he was on court; he played. Maybe he didn't have his best day, and so, but still, I'm lucky to be through, I think.

Q. What did you do really well?
PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER: Well, for sure, in the beginning, not too many things started again not too great or he started well breaking me in the first game. But I think I returned very well today, could somehow read his serve pretty well and returned good.
Yeah, started to move good and trying to mix it up a little bit. For sure, it could be also going the other way. I think, first set he had couple of good chances in the break. In the tiebreaker, he was always up, and, yeah, maybe I was in that moment a bit lucky to make the right decisions.
Yeah, very happy to pull out very tough first set.

Q. You had two three-set losses in the last two Indian Wells tournaments, one to Verdasco and one to Djokovic, I think. Are you pleased to get over the finish line against a top-10 player?
PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER: Yeah, I mean, it's always great, for sure. I had already some very tough matches this year, as well, against top 10 players, which I all lost. Also one against Soderling in Rotterdam with match point for me in the third set. It was 7-6 for him.
So I always had good fight against these guys, and for sure I'm more than happy to win that match. Because I think that, yeah, in a tournament you have -- if you want to go far in the tournament, you have to beat the top guys. I'm very, very pleased to make it happen in big tournament.

Q. What if anything is holding you back from a place in the top 20?
PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER: I don't know. If you can tell me, I would take you as a coach. (Smiling.)
No, I think the level of all the tennis players, it's very close. I think now we see some young guys coming up again, and we still have, like, Roger, Nadal, and all the other guys, which are performing very well over all the years.
So, yeah, I do -- no, that's not the right English. I try to -- you know, I'm very consistent, but I never had like a big, very big success in the big tournament, which I make a, I don't know, a final in the Masters or as quarter or semifinal in the Slam, which is still my goal, but never happen yet.
So I think if something going on that way, then would be great for sure.

Q. Looking ahead to Dolgopolov or Del Potro in the next round, how do you see that?
PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER: Well, they're just playing right now. I think it's a tough match. I think Del Potro is playing very well, beating even Ljubicic, former champion here. And, yeah, Dolgopolov, he made a big jump this year. I think he was in the quarters in Australian Open.
Yeah, so both guys pretty tough. I think even if the Del Potro wins and he is not seeded, he is the favorite. He is a Grand Slam champion and he's coming back, so for sure he's maybe not at his best. But for sure he's playing really good tennis if he wins today. So I'm looking for a really tough opponent in the next round.

Q. Your win today, you were talking about you're waiting for that breakthrough. Do you feel like you could have that breakthrough here at Indian Wells the way you're playing?
PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER: I think it's -- I always perform very well; I like to play here. I mean, it's funny. I think in tennis, everything can happen in one week. You know, it's like, you can make -- you can write history.
If I win the tournament, we're talking about the next goals. But it's always a long way, because you have many good guys in the draw, which like also to win.
So everything is possible, I think. There are a few more rounds to win to win this tournament, but for sure I'm just looking for the next round. It's gonna be hard enough.
Hopefully I can win a couple more rounds, and then we talk about maybe next time here.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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