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CHINA OPEN

October 8, 2011

Andrea Petkovic

BEIJING, CHINA

A. PETKOVIC/M. Niculescu
6-2, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Firstly, congratulations.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Thank you.

Q. As we all know, you have reached the quarterfinal of the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and the US Open. Now you have been in the final of the China Open. You still have the chance to reach the YEC, right? So I want to ask you a question: do you have any adjustment of your schedule after China Open? And if you get qualification of the YEC, what is your preparation for Istanbul?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, well, when I started my season I definitely didn't know that I was going to play for the Masters in the end possibly at all, so it's a surprise for me.
But I just improved a lot. You know, I played each week better and better tennis and I handled the expectations better, so now being able to reach the year-end final would be a great achievement for me.
I just have to try to focus on each match and just try to play my game and not get ahead of myself. So that's what I'm going to try to do. But it would be a great honor to reach the Masters in the end.
So I'm really hopefully, and I hope I can play some good tennis to deserve it.

Q. Could you talk about your opponent's performance today? She seems like underdog coming to the event, but stunned a lot of big stars. How was your preparation for her?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, it was really tough because it's a total different style than all the other girls play, so you have to prepare differently than to all the other girls. I don't think I had one match that's like this in the whole yeah, in the whole season.
So what I just did, I took my two coaches, I put them on the other side, and I made them play slice all the time. So I was quite prepared for what was waiting for me.
You know, the good thing is I never underestimated her, because I knew that I lost to her the last two or three matches. So I went into the match as if I'm playing the No. 1 in the world and not if I'm playing ranked 50, you know.
In the last stages of such a big tournament, you just have to prepare for each and every point to put up a battle out there. I think I did a pretty good job, and I was really satisfied with the intensity and the focus that I managed to have in each and every point.
I think that made the difference today.

Q. The Petko Dance is well-known to everybody now. If you win here tomorrow, will you try some new dance moves for the Chinese audience?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: I had two really great fans from Shanghai who came here just to see me, see my matches, and they promised me to show me some Chinese dance moves. They didn't, so I have to see what I do.
But if I win I should do something special, yeah. First I have to win, so that's a big hurdle in front of me at first.

Q. You've been playing extremely well this year in big tournaments. Tomorrow is going to be your first match to try to win a big tournament like China Open. So in your mind, how big it is for you to try to win here? And we have been talking about the German women's tennis for years, the lack of top stars. So if you win here, do you think it's going to be a big step for you to try to step up and carry the flag for the German women's tennis?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, it's definitely very special for me to be here in the final. I played really well this season; I played very consistent; I won a lot of the matches.
But, you know, I never really won a big title. I was never in a final of a big tournament. So it is different definitely. It's still the final. I still didn't win one point in the final, so it's a long, long road for me to the title. I just try to focus on my game and game plan and not get ahead of myself. That's just everything that I try to do.
But obviously the German tennis had a great season this year, especially the women's tennis. And I think it's just because we have a really healthy competition, you know. We pull each other up. When I play well, the others, we practice all the time together, so they know I'm not much better than them. They just go head and play better the next tournament.
It's just a healthy competition. We are all friends, and it's been a great year. I hope that it continues so German tennis kind of wakes up again. Because really after Boris Becker and Steffi Graf, the public in Germany just forgot about tennis.
I think it's such a beautiful sport, and I really hope that we can keep up the level and keep winning - hopefully - winning big tournaments, and that we sort of start a renaissance in Germany. It would be great for German tennis.

Q. (Through translation.) First one, in the next match, who do you think you would like to play against, Radwanska or Flavia?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Who do I think will win? Oh, that's really, really tough. Agnieszka is obviously in the best form of her life because she won Tokyo; she played an incredible US Open Series.
And Flavia, I saw her playing against Caroline. She was playing really, really well as well, and she played quarters at the US Open.
So both of them showed that they are in the best shapes of their lives. I also know that both of them play really great on hard court. I lost to Agnieszka three times -- or two times at the US Open Series.
So I'm just going to prepare for each -- it doesn't matter who I play. I'm just going to prepare for myself and try to focus on myself and hopefully be a little lucky tomorrow.

Q. The last question, would you like to show some Chinese dance moves right here?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Can you show me? No? Well, I cannot show you if you cannot show me.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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