Interview

March 10, 2003

Vera Zvonareva vs. Megan Shaughnessy
6/3, 4/6, 6/2

MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Big win.
VERA ZVONAREVA: Yeah.

Q. Just talk a little about the match and how you felt you came through and won the third set.
VERA ZVONAREVA: Actually, since the first game I understood that she has a really good serve. So I just tried to keep my serve during the whole match. Then if I have a chance to take her.

Q. She returned serve very well. Did you feel you got enough of your first serves in to keep her off of you?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Actually, yeah, my first serve was pretty good today. I just tried to keep it. Then it was fine. I served I think maybe, four aces. Sometimes I served really good first serve, like twice a game, and then it was good.

Q. It was okay?
VERA ZVONAREVA: It was okay to win the game.

Q. Weren't you up a break in the second set? You were ahead in the second set, weren't you?
VERA ZVONAREVA: I think no, I lost my serve.

Q. You lost your serve.
VERA ZVONAREVA: Yeah.

Q. Just talk about after losing the second set, how you managed to regroup and play better in the third set.
VERA ZVONAREVA: Actually, I just lost my serve in the second set, so I told to myself, "Okay, I should keep my serve or it's going to be really tough." And I was doing this. And then I was really lucky to win her serve at 3?2.

Q. Will you consider that one of the biggest wins of your pro career?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Maybe, yeah. I think so.

Q. Did you feel you played at a high level, that your own level was high?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Yeah, I mean my level should be high to win this match. She's a really good player and she doesn't give up.

Q. Do you think you played better today than you did against Clijsters at the US Open?
VERA ZVONAREVA: It's tough to say because they play different game, so I supposed to play different game, as well.
I don't really know.

Q. I watched the first set of your match. I got the feeling you were trying to hit the ball down the middle mostly. Am I right or wrong?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Sometimes I tried because then she can't hit angles when I play to the middle. And then when she played shorter, I just tried to win it.

Q. I also got the feeling that she wasn't playing as good as she might have. Is that right or wrong, do you suppose?
VERA ZVONAREVA: I don't know. I never played against her. I didn't even see a lot of matches, so I don't know.

Q. Did you have anything we might describe as a game plan, a plan that you wanted to use against her? What did you want to do in the match?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Actually, when I go to play against players I never played before, I just try to play my game, try not make a lot of mistakes, and when I have a short ball, to hit it.

Q. This year, up until this tournament, hasn't been so great for you. Why have you played so well during this week?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Because I was practicing a lot before. When I came to play Memphis, then Scottsdale, I wasn't really ready for the matches because I was practicing for one month. I didn't play a lot of matches.
Now I won against Poutchek. It was a pretty good win for me. Against Majoli, I lost three times against her before. Then I just said to myself, "Okay, you can do better if you can win." I don't know, maybe just because I played a lot of matches.

Q. So your confidence is very high? Do you think it's possible you could win your next match, maybe even go further than that?
VERA ZVONAREVA: I just think about my next match. I want to try to do the best I can, then we'll see what's going to happen.

Q. This has been a great tournament for you. You reached the finals of a smaller tournament last year.
VERA ZVONAREVA: I was final in Palermo.

Q. Could you compare this tournament with what it's like for you to reach the quarterfinal of this tournament compared to the final of a smaller tournament? Is this more important?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Maybe. I don't really know. It's just depends what players did I play over there and I play here. It was really important for me, for example, to win against Majoli because I was always losing to her. So maybe this one is more important.

Q. Did that give you confidence maybe for this tournament, beating Majoli for the first time, you feel you could beat anybody?
VERA ZVONAREVA: Yeah, actually it gave me a lot of confidence.