MOSCOW, Russia - Alisa Kleybanova has firmly established herself as one of Russia's best this year, winning her first two titles (in Kuala Lumpur and Seoul), and this week plays at home in Moscow. Catch up with the rising star now!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Hi everyone,

I lost to Vika today in the quarterfinals. It was a close match and every game was tight. Vika was playing great today - I think one of the reasons was that she qualified for Doha and the pressure wasn't there anymore. She was really enjoying the match today and playing freely. I did as much as I could but it's the end of the year and everyone is feeling a bit tired. It wasn't easy for me to stay at my top level for all of the match. I made some mistakes on important points.

I'm happy with the tournament and my year overall. I won two tournaments and reached the quarterfinals here. I just have to wish Vika good luck for the rest of the tournament and for Doha. She played better than me and deserved to win.

I really hope I can always play well in Moscow. You always want to do more here. Year by year I feel less pressure, I'm not paying so much attention to expectations and I just try to enjoy the support of the home crowd. They expect you to beat certain players and this can put a lot of pressure on the Russian players, but I try to just go out there and play. We are not machines, you can't push a button and perform your best. The most important thing is give your all.

It's great news for me that I have qualified for Bali. The last couple of weeks, I wasn't sure I would be there. One of the good things is that it made me play well - I wasn't stressed but I just said 'Okay, if I don't get in, I don't get in. I will finish my season and go on holidays sooner!' But of course I'm happy that I did it.

I had some interviews I had to do here yesterday so I practiced and stayed until 6pm. Traffic was so bad on the way home, by the time I got there I didn't want to do anything. I relaxed and went to bed early. It was nice to have a day off!

Thanks for reading this week and I'll talk to you all again soon :)

Would you like more tournaments in Russia? If yes, where? Jordan
Of course I wish there were. I always enjoy playing in Russia. I have never been to St. Petersburg, so it would be nice to have a tournament there.

Alisa's Moscow Blog: Wednesday
Alisa's Moscow Blog: Tuesday
Alisa's Moscow Blog: Monday

Also check out Alisa's official website at www.alisakleybanova.ru.