Crowd favourite Jennifer Capriati stumbled into the second round of the U.S. Open on Monday and then admitted that winning the title would be "a dream come true".
The eighth-seeded American, a former winner of the Australian and French Opens, came from a set down to beat Czech Denisa Chladkova 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 in a tough first-round encounter.
Despite struggling to advance, Capriati believes she has the ability to win the title, having reached the semi-finals in two of the past three years.
"It would be a dream come true," added Capriati, who next plays Magui Serna of Spain.
"It would just be definitely the icing on the cake for me."
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"I really feel like I didn't play badly," she said. "I was maybe just on the defensive too much and was kind of taken off guard a bit.
"But I definitely practiced everything out there, between the mental and the physical."
Capriati said a hamstring injury that had hampered her since reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon had cleared up.
"I have to say this is the best I have felt, you know, for the year," she said.
"I'm just about there. The only difference (to last year) is maybe I haven't had as much match practice."
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