Interviews at the Connecticut Open: Pliskova and Diyas

All Access Press Conference: Karolina Pliskova On Sunday, the press had the opportunity to sit down and talk to world number 8, Karolina Pliskova. A former champion here at New Haven who is looking to find her form after a disappointing grass court season at Wimbledon. With a new coach, Renae Stubbs, she is learning that in order to find her form she has to stay positive.

"I believe that Renae has a better perspective than I do. It helped that she was on tour and that she is familiar with all of the other players. She knows a lot about the players on tour because of her job on television... We have been together 1 week and 3 weeks from last years season, so we have a lot of time to see where things go"

Like staying positive, Pliskova has also been looking for a better outlook for her to have more fun. She believes that, with her goals set of playing better, she needs to be having fun when it comes to her time on the court. Knowing that playing consistently well can be tough, the more fun she is having on the court, the better her game will become.

Zarina Diyas Upsets Maria Sakkari Well, well, well... It looks like the Tweener Head effect is in full swing here at the Connecticut Open. Zarina Diyas is a 24-year-old tennis player who is battling back from a knee injury she suffered during the grass court season, has just taken out up and comer Maria Sakkari from Greece. What is interesting about this is that I was a hitting partner for Zarina Diyas throughout the DC Open in Washington DC just a few weeks ago. I am not only honored but humbled that I had the opportunity to hit with someone like her.

Diyas played a great match and took advantage of a struggling Sakkari. With her serve to work and aggressive, flat groundstrokes being placed perfectly on the court, Diyas looked strong against the Greek. Sakkari getting frustrated at every little miss was down a break early a 3-0 and called her coach to help her mentally recover from such a slow start. The coaching helped and she broke back to quickly be only a game down at 2-3. Eventually, Diyas took over and capitalized on the ongoing mistakes Sakkari was making.

With a straight sets victory over the Greek Goddess of tennis, Diyas will face Petra Kvitova in the second round of the Connecticut Open tomorrow.