CoCo Vandeweghe – Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Well done.

COCO VANDEWEGHE: Thank you.

Q. Second time you have beaten her.

COCO VANDEWEGHE: Uh-huh.

Q. Did this match tonight compare in any way to Wimbledon?

COCO VANDEWEGHE: I mean, the court is very fast. I would say that. But every match is different. You can’t be expecting the same player to show up, neither from myself to play the exact same way nor her play the exact same way.

I went out there and not banking on because I won at Wimbledon that I’m going to win today or that she won, I think it was Miami she won, that she’s gonna win today.

So just went out there, focused on the game plan and focused on myself and just went out there and played and had fun.

Q. Obviously the first set really close, and then you just ran away with it there.

COCO VANDEWEGHE: Right. Like I said on court, when someone is serving as well and playing as well off of their serve, because I was getting a lot of returns back, but she was really playing well off of her serve, you have to really focus on taking care of your service games.

That was my main focus. And then in the tiebreaker, I mean, every point matters. So when I had my opportunity, I was going to take it. Sometimes I screwed up and other times I was successful. But I wasn’t going to allow her to dictate me in the tiebreaker. So that’s what I was thinking going in.

Then the second set, getting that early break was really key. Then, you know, from there I just kind of went into a rhythm and continued to steamroll.

Q. She had obviously made the final here last year. Now you’re into the second round and you have Kiki next. So just talk about did that kind of give you confidence moving further into the tournament?

COCO VANDEWEGHE: You have to play round by round. Today my only focus was playing Karolina. I actually had no idea who I was playing next round if I won. I mean, I have practiced with Kiki a whole bunch and I know her very well. So, you know, I will sit down with my coach, Craig, and we will go over what didn’t work here, what worked well here in today’s match, but I also have doubles tomorrow. So I will play doubles with Ana and have fun and hopefully be successful and hopefully continue a winning run.

Q. First win of the year, is that like a good hurdle to get over?

COCO VANDEWEGHE: Yeah. Yeah, first win of the year. It’s really important. It was very tough going into the Australia swing because I finished last year injured with my ankle.

So my prep was definitely hampered by that because I was still nursing the injury and slowly working my way into shape, into playing shape. And maybe, you know, I wasn’t mentally as honed in as I would like to be going into the Australian summer, but, you know, I had some tough matches.

I had a tough first round in Auckland. I lost in close three sets against Jelena, close two sets. It wasn’t like I was playing bad matches. I was just not mentally tight in the big points where I needed to be, which is match play and is where that definitely shines.

Q. When would you say you were fully physically fit after your injury?

COCO VANDEWEGHE: I would say probably two weeks left before I left for Australia, so that would be the teens of December.