Q. Can you talk a bit about the match, how you felt going into it.
ELISE MERTENS: Well, I was really looking forward to it. That's for sure. But Caroline was really good today. I mean, she hit her serves, her groundstrokes were pretty aggressive.
So, yeah, I mean, it's a mixed feeling. Of course you lost the match, but of course also I'm very happy that I'm in the semifinal, that I reach a semifinal for the first time.
Q. Did you sense maybe when she was serving for the match at 5-4, you passed her, then she double-faulted, you broke, that maybe you might have something going there?
ELISE MERTENS: Well, I gave everything today. So until the last point. Of course, 5-4, 30-Love, you think, Oh, ha.
But I gave everything. Yeah, I mean, 6-5, 6-All, you can see that the fighting spirit was there. But she was just slightly better than me today.
Q. I think you've played her before, it went to three sets. How different was that match compared to today? Was it about the player or was it about the stage?
ELISE MERTENS: Well, it was clay, so it's a totally different surrounding. It was Bastad in Sweden.
Today, yeah, I think a lot of games were 40-All. A lot of points could go either way. But, yeah, I really loved it. I enjoyed every moment that I've been on center court.
Yeah, it's been a good two weeks.
Q. What do you think you've learnt most from the two weeks?
ELISE MERTENS: I learned most?
Q. Yes.
ELISE MERTENS: I think that anything is possible. The belief in yourself. Also the second match, I was 5-Love down. I think mentally it's very important, of course, the body has to work well, too, but I think that anything is possible in tennis.
Q. You've talked quite a lot after your matches about the mental game. What do you do to work on your mentality off the court? What were you doing today in those pressure points?
ELISE MERTENS: Well, I think mentally I'm stable. I'm doing quite well. It's just I think now relax mentally, no tennis for today or for tomorrow or the days after. But then back to practice. I'll work on the things I can improve.
Q. Do you have any sense of how it will feel now that you're top 20? You said the other day you didn't even think about being top 100, never put yourself in the position of top anything. What about top 20?
ELISE MERTENS: Yeah, it's wow. Top 20 is a total different thing. I mean, but it's a ranking. I mean, if the level is there, if you work hard -- you still have to work for it. I'm not going to say, you know, top 20 is my goal. No, I hope to go even further.