Ai Sugiyama Quotations

Whenever we have the Olympics or the Fed Cup, our schedule becomes very tight and I couldn't play the last couple of years. Everything is fine with me this year.

She set a slow pace and I got kind of trapped into it. In the second set, I picked up the pace and that forced her to start making errors. My shots weren't so good, but with the crowd behind me, I willed myself to win.

I think it's going to be a tough match,

My serve wouldn't go in. It was a very frustrating game,

I won my first match of the year here last night and that really gave me a lot of confidence. Today I just focused on myself, on my rhythm, and not on my opponent. That was what made the difference for me today.

I've seen her play better than today. She was thinking smart at the beginning. But maybe the concentration wasn't great today, up and down. I tried to just play every point and focus.

It wasn't until I actually shook my opponent's hand that I felt I had won the match.

It's always difficult playing a strong player like Anastasia so I am pretty relieved to win and make the quarter-finals here.

I moved well in the first set but then I found that I was unable to attack as we went into the second set, ... She kept me back (on the baseline) and that's not my style. I couldn't get the same rhythm back.

I hope more Japanese players could come out even among the top 50.

I completely lost my rhythm after missing that smash,