AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 13, 2014

Belinda Bencic

B. BENCIC/K. Date‑Krumm
6‑4, 4‑6, 6‑3

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Not a bad first Grand Slam match.  How did you feel out there?
BELINDA BENCIC:  I was a little bit nervous in the beginning, but then I just tried to keep the ball in the court.  Yeah, I don't know.  It was special.  Yeah.

Q.  Did it feel that different from every other match you have ever played before?
BELINDA BENCIC:  I tried not to like think about it, but it was different, yeah.

Q.  What's it like when you play somebody Kimiko's age?  Do you think about that during the match?
BELINDA BENCIC:  No, I was not thinking about it, but I had really trouble to play her because she plays a very different game and very flat ball.  I could do nothing with it.
So I had a little bit of trouble, but then I managed to go though it.

Q.  You were getting quite stressed in the second set, understandably.  How did you sort of get yourself out of that in the third?
BELINDA BENCIC:  Yeah, I just tried to forget about the first and second set and just tried to play a new match like if it's a new match and win the third set like this.

Q.  You have Li Na next obviously who is a top 5 player in the world.  What do you expect from playing her?
BELINDA BENCIC:  I don't know.  I just finished my match, so I didn't think a lot about the next match, but it will be tough but will be nice experience for me, hopefully on a big court.

Q.  What does it mean to you to win a match like this?
BELINDA BENCIC:  It means a lot, because I didn't play really at my best, but I was able to fight through, and it was the only thing I could do in that moment.

Q.  When you were leaving the court you had a friend with you, another player.  Who was that?
BELINDA BENCIC:  Sorry?

Q.  When you were leaving the court, there was another player walking with you, another girl.
BELINDA BENCIC:  Ah, yeah, we are like training partners.  We travel together, and we are practicing together.  We are like in the team, and she will also play the junior tournament here.

Q.  Did Martina give you any advice beforehand?  I saw her sitting in the stands, cheering you on.
BELINDA BENCIC:  Yeah, she gave me some advice, and I tried to do it.

Q.  Did it help?
BELINDA BENCIC:  Yeah (smiling).

Q.  What did she say?  What sort of thing was she...
BELINDA BENCIC:  She said a lot of things.  She knows her better than me, but...

Q.  Was she trying to sort of get you in the frame of mind for this kind of match, or was it tactics or mental things?
BELINDA BENCIC:  It was both.  It was also tactics and mental, and it was ‑‑just not all about tactics.  I also had to do my game, and I think the most important part was in my head, so, yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports