US OPEN

September 1, 1997

Rachel McQuillan

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: No. It was very tough out there today. She played very well. I knew she'd play well because Round of 16 no one takes very lightly. With the results today, there hasn't been anyone pushed today really. So it was a tough match today.

Q. Started second set well. Thought you might have had a chance?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: I thought I -- I was hitting the ball, striking the ball well all through the match. It was just a matter of getting on top of that ball and getting it where I want to hit. She was playing a lot different, too, Conchita played the other day, she was getting me in difficult positions on the court. You know, I just was pressing a bit too much, I thought today. That's my game, to sort of play aggressively. I thought maybe I could have waited a shot or two to be on the aggressive shot to take, yeah.

Q. What were your pretournament expectations and has this satisfied it?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: I'm very happy. I mean, definitely this has been my best US Open to date so far. And I can't complain about that. For sure I'm disappointed. But, you know, it's been a great tournament. You know, I'm going to look forward to working on a few things when I go home. You know, this made me really believe that I can do well in tournaments and keep pressing in the future.

Q. Everyone always talks about Arantxa's retrieving and getting everything back. But is there more to her game than that? Just the way she sends the ball back?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: Seems to me today I was really going for too much. I think maybe she just gets so many balls back that you don't normally get -- the girls you normally play against don't normally get them back. It's just a different game to be played with Conchita and Sanchez, she's very quick obviously. Got these balls back. Not only did she get them back, she sends them up 14,000 feet in the air. You have to wait for these balls to bounce or hit them on the fall. In that sense, it's a lot of pressure on you to hit a good overhead. I knew that and I worked on high overheads yesterday for half an hour or so. You know, I got a couple good ones, but they're quite hard that she sends up to you.

Q. Wind out there today?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: No. Very humid, very hot, yeah. I was really hot in the first set.

Q. Where to now, Rachel? What's the plan?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: I'm going home for probably a couple weeks. I leave tomorrow. So I'll work on a few things. I'm pretty much playing a tournament in Surabaya. Then I go onto play some Challenger events, some $50,000 and $75,000 events, starting at Santa Clara, about five or six of them. Some good points there up for grabs if I'm playing well. No reason why I can't win a couple of those.

Q. This is all about getting the ranking up again?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: For sure. As I do well now, I'm looking to hit 50 or break 50. It's possible if I can do well in those. It sets me up for the Aussie circuit, which is good.

Q. I don't know how much of the other tennis you see here while you're working on your own campaign. Do you see anyone beating Martina Hingis for the final?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: She's definitely the one to beat, I'd say. She's really in form. I don't know. The depth of women's tennis is getting a lot better. Martina has been on her game for over a year now. She's been really a step ahead of everybody. But, you know, Lindsay is a bit of a threat to her, Lindsay Davenport. So it's just a matter of what the heat can do to these girls, who can get through it and who is playing better on the day.

Q. What about Monica Seles?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: Obviously she's in for a good chance. I just can't pick anyone at this stage. If I had to pick, it would be Martina, I'd say, for sure.

Q. What's the buzz in the locker room about young Venus?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: I don't know. I'm not in the locker room that much. Obviously she's going to be a great player; she already is a great player. She seems to be a great girl, too. She's always smiling, comes in. I think she just really loves playing the game at this stage, really enjoys it. Seems like a great kid. She's got no fear.

Q. Davenport yesterday complained she had been snubbed by Williams. Has she been friendly to you?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: She says "Good day," not good day, but "Hi." She seemed quite friendly towards me. I don't know her that well. I think Lindsay had a bit -- something happened when she played her at Indian Wells, her father got in the way in that match, said a few things, which wasn't nice towards Lindsay. I can understand why things aren't that clear between the two of them.

Q. Rachel, I walked in a bit late. You may have already answered this question, please humor me. Were you disappointed with the way you played today? Did you think you'd be more competitive in the match?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: I thought the games were very close. I was a bit unlucky the first game, I thought I played a pretty good first game. It just seems to go that way sometimes where you seem to be trying so hard that you lose those games all the time. I felt like, as I said before, I was hitting the ball well, but I just didn't get a good blend going to win the point. So I was trying to be maybe pushing too much to be aggressive and come in and going for a little bit too much against Arantxa. You sort of got the feeling that you got to hit a good shot to come in, because she passes well. I felt like I was forcing a little bit too much to hit near the lines. Maybe I should have gone down the middle towards her. Just put a lot of pressure on me today where yesterday I felt I could get in a rhythm with Conchita and come in on her backhand. I didn't feel as threatened with her. Obviously Sanchez, she runs down so many balls and skies them up in the air, it's quite difficult at times.

Q. Overall, are you happy with your performance here? You went pretty deep into the bracket?

RACHEL MCQUILLAN: Yeah. Very happy. I mean, like I said, this is my best result. It's really pushed my ranking up now I think in the 60s somewhere. So I'm really happy with that. I started the year off at I think 190. So I've had that. I just want to keep getting better, yeah.

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