QUESTION:
How would you sum up your match today?

MARIA SHARAPOVA:
I thought it was pretty good. I thought I was a bit slow in the beginning of the match. You know, didn't really adjust from the beginning. I thought I was letting her play her game a little too much.

But I felt like as the match went on, I moved a lot better. I saw the short balls a lot quicker, put pressure on her.


QUESTION:
The air-conditioning apparently broke down on Rod Laver Arena. Did you feel the difference?

MARIA SHARAPOVA:
It was a little steamy in there. It wasn't nearly as warm as it was the l...

QUESTION
Anything special you did between your first match and today to prepare yourself to get yourself up again after being pretty exhausted from the last match?

MARIA SHARAPOVA
Rest a lot, stay inside, drink. Just try to recover. There's not too much you can do except try and rest as much as you can.

QUESTION
How much was this the game you needed? Quick time, an hour, not expending too much.

MARIA SHARAPOVA
Yeah, it was good. I was glad I got to a good start. I wanted to make sure, you know, I finished it in two this time. I thought that I played a little bit better today.

I still think that I can play a lot better. I'm nowhere...

MARIA SHARAPOVA:
Let's make this a positive session tonight please, por favor.

QUESTION:
Can you talk about the preparation you put into getting ready for this tournament, how rewarding this must feel for you to have it pay off like this?

MARIA SHARAPOVA:
Absolutely incredible. The first thing that comes into my min...

QUESTION:
What were you able to do differently today that you had trouble doing the last four times you met?

MARIA SHARAPOVA:
Uhm, I thought I played really smart, you know. I wasn't making errors at the wrong times. You know, I started off the match really well. I put pressure on her. You know, I served quite solid and had a good pe...

QUESTION:
Pretty easy out there?

MARIA SHARAPOVA:
Yeah, it was, and so I had a little bit of a choke game (laughing). Second set.
No, I was really solid. I served well again, you know, until the one game. Tried to finish it off and hit a big second serve, and then ended up hitting a couple of double faults.
But other than that...