INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

May 10, 2026

Anastasia Potapova

Mixed Zone

A. POTAPOVA/L. Samsonova

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Is this the best you've ever played consistency-wise?

ANASTASIA POTAPOVA: Consistency-wise, yes. But I still feel there is a lot of room to improve what I should have done better today. Obviously if we talk about the whole match, it was very solid for me, very consistent. Not such a up and downs.

But yeah, I mean, still got to work on something every day.

Q. How did you manage to turn it around between Madrid and Rome without days off?

ANASTASIA POTAPOVA: It was not easy, as I said before. It took me literally a couple of matches to get used to the conditions here. The first two matches that I played, they were literally about survival and to try to hang there and to find some keys to win.

But since that, just better and better. Now it actually feels good here.

Q. With your change of nationality, do you feel Austrian, Russian, both?

ANASTASIA POTAPOVA: I mean, I always going to have my Russian roots. You cannot take out of me this. It's been such a big part of my life. My family is still there, of course.

As I said, at the moment I'm adapting in new country. It's going good so far. I'm being proud of.

Q. You were into the semi in Madrid, here qualifications. Was it hard to switch from a semifinal to qualifications here?

ANASTASIA POTAPOVA: It was not easy mentally. But as I said, I would rather play some matches than go and just practice, just spending hours on court practicing. I don't like to practice much, to be honest. So for me it's always better option to play matches.

Yeah, I mean, it was not easy, but I just try to go one by one, to not look forward, to stay in the moment.

Q. How will you prepare for what comes next, which is Pegula?

ANASTASIA POTAPOVA: At the moment I didn't think about it yet. Yeah, as I said, I'm just living in the moment. I don't know if we're going to play tomorrow, after tomorrow.

Yeah, I mean, now I'm just focusing on the recovery and let's see later what we going to discuss with my team.

Q. Do you think you can beat anyone right now?

ANASTASIA POTAPOVA: It's big words, yeah? I don't like being cocky. I think if you feel confident and physically good, I think anything can happen with anyone on tour.

Q. How do you explain this excellent shape on clay? Do you have any explanation? Why did you play so well?

ANASTASIA POTAPOVA: To be honest, if you look back on the past years, I always played good on clay. Maybe it was not such a big result. Also last year I played fourth round in Madrid. Also played once fourth round in French Open already. It's always been there. Maybe the consistency was not there.

I think I grew up in the last years a lot, and that's what allows me to be more consistent now in my game.

Q. The player you beat in qualifying is also in the fourth round. Are you surprised about that?

ANASTASIA POTAPOVA: Not really. When I stepped out from our match that day, I spoke with my team. The first thing I said, Geez, this girl is so good. I felt like she is good. She has it all. She serves well, moves well, plays offensive, defensive. She can do it all. I said that I didn't expect it to be this tough, to be honest.

Yeah, I cannot say that I'm very surprised now by her win today because her level is higher than maybe we all think.