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BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 20, 2011

Marion Bartoli

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

C. WOZNIACKI/M. Bartoli
6-1, 2-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. We really appreciate the way you play, and we wonder why, when you get your opponent off the court why you don't come to the net more.
MARION BARTOLI: That's funny. After two hours and 15 minutes of running, that's good you give me some advice on my tennis. That's very nice from you. I really appreciate it.
But I guess it's not easy as it seems. And if you come up on Caroline to the net and you're not hitting the perfect shot, you get passed all the time. That's pretty tough to do against her.

Q. I mean when you have her off balance, when her legs are crossed and she only has a defensive shot back. We were just wondering why. But you win most of your points by outlasting your opponent obviously.
MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, well, I think, you know, after the first set I really start to play a lot better. Honestly, I think it was one of the best match I ever played from the second set on towards the end.
We had some really nice shots from both of us. I think it was a great match to watch from the crowd, and, you know, I really enjoyed playing it, even though I come up a bit short at the end. You can always say you could have done better, but I think I pretty much gave everything on the court.
Sometimes you come up a bit short. But if I keep working like that, I'm sure I'm going to improve and be even a better player.

Q. What happened in that first set? Then you had to regroup to come back. Was were any nerves in the beginning?
MARION BARTOLI: Not really. You know, I was not feeling my shots perfectly at the beginning. You know, it was a bit chillier today. The conditions were different than the other days.
And Caroline has a different ball. You know, the ball has a lot of spin, so you have to really get your feet moving and get behind the ball to be able to get a crack at it. I was not moving well enough at the beginning, and she was playing very well, as well.
But then I was able to turn it around, start to hit the ball a lot better from the baseline, and I think we had really some good points from both of us.
You know, if every single match I could play like that throughout the years, I would be pretty happy. So even though I came up a bit short at the end and she was better than me, I think it was really a great fight.

Q. You will be back in the top 10. That must give you a lot of satisfaction.
MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, definitely. It's been a while since I was now in the top 10, and to be able to reach a final at one of the biggest event outside of a Grand Slam here in Indian Wells, it's definitely a good achievement for me, even though I would have preferred to come up with the winner trophy.
I have now to regroup for Miami. There is another big one coming on. I will have some few days off, try to rest, and then we will prepare for the beginning of Miami.
I really want to be at the Championships at the end of the year. That's one of my main goals. So if I can stay in the top 10 and start from there, it will be nice.

Q. Do you feel like it's only time until Caroline wins a Grand Slam title?
MARION BARTOLI: Oh, yes, absolutely. I mean, when you see the way she's playing on every single match, she's so consistent all the time. She barely have a poor day. She's always coming to the court and having almost the same kind of performance every single day.
So I honestly cannot see why she doesn't win a Grand Slam. She's been final of the US Open already, and it's just a matter of time before she will get more than one, I'm sure.

Q. What was the most difficult thing in today's match for you?
MARION BARTOLI: Um, well, I think I just made a few mistakes at the end of the third set and some short ball. But, again, it was after some very long rallies, a lot of running. I mean, it was not like the second shot of the rallies. It was coming on after a long rally. And sometimes I took the best decision, especially on the target. I was hitting hard.
But at the end, I was really close. I mean, I was not missing too much before I can get the win. So, you know, I really take a lot of positive out of this match. I mean, when we play in Doha a couple weeks ago it was an easy win for Caroline, and today I think it was a lot tougher.
I'm just gonna look on a positive way and try to build from it.

Q. What do you think it takes to beat her? What sort of tactics did you come into the game playing?
MARION BARTOLI: Well, I think you have to definitely try to detect the play, but of course not doing too many mistakes. You have to hit a lot of winners and keep the unforced errors very low.
Of course she's going to make you hit three, four, five great shots before to win the point, which usually you just have to maybe hit one or two. So you have to really be consistent on your groundstrokes, put some power on it, but be consistent on the power. It's never too easy, obviously.

Q. Are your emotions at the moment a little bit mixed, in that sad that you didn't win the title, but at the same time, as you just said, the positives that you take out and pride in what you've achieved at this tournament.
MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there is both things going on through my mind. But, you know, I just want to look at it more from a learning point. When I'm playing my game I'm really there at the top, but I need to be able to keep it at this level for two hours, two hours and a half, or even more.
So I need to work a bit more to keep this level of intensity toward the end of the match. I dropped a little bit in the third set, and that cost me the match.
So that's what I want to work on in the few coming weeks.

Q. Your thoughts on the performance here at Indian Wells and your thoughts on this tournament and if it means anything to you to achieve the final here?
MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, well, tennis-wise I think I improved throughout the tournament. Of course, I didn't play that good on my first-round match, but, you know, I really was able to really improve my game throughout the tournament and come up with, I think, a good game in the final.
What I work on right now is my movement on the court. I think we had some really good rallies. I was moving really well. So I just need to work a bit more to be able to keep this kind of level for a longer period on the court when I'm playing against the best player in the world.
So that's a bit of extra work that I need to do, but you can be sure I will do it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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