He`s top 20 in the world for a reason,

This is a dream come true.

This couldn`t have been better preparation for that match, ... He (Lopez) has one of if not the best lefty serves out there. If he doesn`t, Rusedski probably does. I am looking at the two best lefty serves back to back and getting a win against one could correlate to getting a win (against) another.

If my legs start going at all, the crowd will be my legs for a little while,

I never faced Pete (Sampras) in a match. I think from watching, his is the best serve ever. And he is the only guy that I would probably not take the bet that he would so often offer in practice -- he`s down love-40, says `10 bucks, I still hold serve.` I probably wouldn`t even take that against him. So many times he would come back and win. He would just put it on the dime. I also wouldn`t take the bets when we were just practicing our serves, he put just a tennis ball can on the other side, and says, `A hundred bucks for who hits more.` That`s not a safe bet with him.

Still seems like a dream come true. Never seemed possible at the beginning of this week. It couldn`t have been more perfect to do it in front of my friends and family. I know there`s going to be a little bit of celebrating in Fairfield.

At the beginning of the year, I probably wouldn`t have won a match like this.

It`s just amazing, ... I really couldn`t have dreamed it to be any better at the beginning of the week.

Those guys carried me through. I had a lot of tough three-set matches this week, and they were my legs in those third sets.

Once I got that first break (in the third set), having the sense it was almost over was great. Having that crowd to front run is great.