US OPEN

August 27, 1997

Grant Stafford

Q. Straight sets. You must be pretty pleased with that, Grant?

GRANT STAFFORD: Yeah, I am happy with the way I played. I was very focused the whole match. I dropped my serve in the beginning of the third set and, actually, beginning of the first and the beginning of the third. And, then I won six games in a row in the third, so, yeah, I was happy with my performance.

GRANT STAFFORD: Yeah, you know, I picked my ranking up last year and I have maintained it this year and I am hoping to, you know, get a little bit above 70.

GRANT STAFFORD: You know, the goals I am aiming for is basically to be as fit as I can by Australia next year. I have been working on it all year and it seems to be paying off. I have kept my ranking off and beating some of the good players, so, I am just happy with the way I am playing this year.

GRANT STAFFORD: Well, just, you know, just maintaining the work and just keeping focused every single week and trying to win every single match every week whether I am feeling good or bad and, you know, it seems to be working.

GRANT STAFFORD: Yeah, I think I served pretty well. I served a lot of aces. And, I returned very well, which I usually do. And, my volleys were good and my groundstrokes were good, so, overall I was pretty happy with it.

GRANT STAFFORD: I think I have come up -- I will be coming up against Bruguera. I think he is up in the fifth set. You know, if I can get through there, then I think I could be on my way to a good U.S. Open. But, he is a tough customer and, you know, if he wins it is going to be a tough match.

End of FastScripts….