Team Belgium - 2
Team Czechia - 0
THE MODERATOR: Congrats, Team Belgium, for reaching the semifinals. If you can say a couple words about your performance today and your semifinal against Switzerland.
ELISE MERTENS: I mean, it was an amazing day. Still playing the mixed doubles, of course. Zizou gave me that 1-Love lead so I could just relax and play my game.
But yeah, that definitely didn't turn out the way it did. It was a pretty long match. I'm happy that I came back in the second set. I fought till the end. Yeah, we played a great team, but very happy with the win.
Of course, I know Belinda pretty well. She's an amazing player, amazing comeback player of the year. A lot of experience. We're used to this court. We're used to the circumstances here. So hopefully that will play in our favor.
ZIZOU BERGS: Where should I start (smiling)?
Yeah, unbelievable day. I just realized later on that we are top four, which is pretty crazy. We did it in Davis Cup top four, now with the mixed format again. Belgium is becoming a big country slowly. We're small, but starting to perform big.
Yeah, I think unreal performance from the team today. So excited to go ahead against Switzerland. As Elise said maybe a little bit of a home advantage because we've been playing here, we know how it is.
I think, again, great chances going into the semifinals. Every day we come up with a great day, like Stunty Tuesday, Thirsty Thursday. So the name for Saturday is going to be Sassy Saturday. That sounds very good. Hopefully that brings up the good vibes again.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. What was the shift going into the second set? How did you continue that especially in the third?
ELISE MERTENS: Yeah, of course, she's a very experienced player, especially on big stages. In that first set, I held my serve till the end when she broke me 7-5. I felt like I need to push a little bit more, I need to play a little bit more aggressive, which I did.
Still the games were a lot of 40-all. Went my way, but I felt I have to beat her every point because she can come back anytime.
Started well in the third, too. I broke her. She broke me. Wasn't really happy about that, but... No, it was actually back and forth. I was really happy with the 4-All. I pushed a little bit more, little bit more aggressive. I knew I had to take risks.
Very happy that I could serve it out.
Q. Talk about the prospect of playing Jakub and Belinda if it comes to mixed...
ZIZOU BERGS: Yeah, we will do our homework. We try to improve every day. Maybe the next step is we have a day off tomorrow, analyze our opponent. It's pretty obvious who we're going to play when it's 1-1. We have a great team around us who can help us with that. We will take all that advantage with us.
ELISE MERTENS: We played two matches together. We are growing as a team. I can really feel that, too. Today would have been a bit much with both of our singles. But yeah, we're feeling better on court together.
Q. You seem to have a great team camaraderie on the bench. They do a serving gesture. Can you talk about how good it's been having the team around you. Elise, the video replay in the third set, talk about that.
ELISE MERTENS: I mean, it's great you have the team around. Once a year we can play in a team format. Tennis, it's a very individual sport. It's very nice to have the coach next to you, to get the team behind you. We know each other for so many years already. That kind of makes the bond even more special.
Third set, the video review, I was not sure what was happening at the moment. They couldn't really review it very clearly. I didn't know if it was bouncing twice or not. Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, we just kept going.
ZIZOU BERGS: Yeah, I feel like these formats, Davis Cup and this, just brings out a little bit the best of me. It's something you do with a team, where everybody is cheering for you. This responsibility role also feels quite natural. I'm really enjoying it.
I'm really a patriot, I try to bring that on court as well. Have the feeling that not only the bench is living with us, but also the people at home brings that extra. Until now we've always been using it very well.
Also Elise in the past has an insane record whenever she plays Fed Cup. Hopefully that makes her play again (smiling).
Q. Zizou, a year ago you didn't have any wins against top-20 players. Now you have four, including two this week. What is the biggest difference in your game between then and now?
ZIZOU BERGS: Then and now? I think we did some really good work in the off-season. Also last year I think if you look to for example the serve speed or serves in general, we upgraded it really well. There's still a lot of work to do on the serve.
If you look to the forehand, the forehand has improved a lot since last year. Just playing with the right intentions, smarter tennis IQ.
I think also having a great team around me guiding me well. We're always trying to look for improvement, even if just 1%. Sometimes we manage to get more than 1%. Yeah, we just try to keep improving.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports