MASON, Ohio -- For the first few years of his professional career, Mardy Fish's only exposure to the sport's larger events came thanks to the largesse of tournament organizers interested in promoting young American players.

	Mardy Fish reached his first Tennis Masters Series quarterfinal this week.

The wild-card system is a well-established way to cultivate new talent in countries throughout the world, but not everyone is able to take advantage of it. Some prospects take their handouts for a while and never pan out. Others take the inevitable defeats and go back to the lower levels with a renewed enthusiasm that they'll make it back to the big leagues on their own one day.

For Fish, that day has definitely arrived.

"I'm not asking for wild cards anymore,'' said the 21-year-old Floridian. "It feels good to be in every tournament, and it feels good to feel like you belong out here. I think I've established that. It feels good when players respect your game. I'm excited to play in a bunch of these tournaments for the first time in the main draw.''

He reached his first Masters Series quarterfinal in Cincinnati, dominating former top-10 player Arnaud Clement of France, 6-2, 6-2.

It was an outing that at several points nicely demonstrated how much Fish's game has progressed during what he calls a breakthrough season.

He believes the weakest part of his game is his forehand, but it served him well in his last match. He was hitting lines and keeping the ball deep in the court, his forehand just as effective as his two-handed backhand.

Fish's improved mental game showed itself as well. After winning the first set, Fish had triple break point on Clement's serve in the first game of the second. He blew the advantage and Clement held, but Fish didn't let the failure get to him. He held his own serve then came back out and rallied from a 40-0 hole in Clement's next service game to pick up a break. He consolidated that break by holding his serve at love and rolled into the quarters.

"It was kind of funny,'' said Fish, "I said to myself when I went down 40-0, I said, 'OK, now I'm gonna come back and win the game.' And sure enough, I did.''

It was a stand he might not have been able to make last year.

"Who knows?'' Fish said. "I mean, a guy of that caliber, a guy that's ranked top 30, is not easy to put away. You kind of have to take all your chances.''

By the latter stages of the match, the Frenchman was throwing his hands in the air in disgust after Fish's serves and muttering to himself. Fish played it cool, acting like he had been there before. He hadn't, of course, but the key is that he feels like he should be there.

"I definitely know whoever I play, I can beat them,'' Fish said. "I'm playing well. I played great today. If I serve well I feel like I can beat anybody.''

There are still two key goals Fish would like to reach before the end of this season. First, he'd like to win his first ATP tournament. He has been in two finals this year, Delray Beach and Nottingham, losing to Jan-Michael Gambill and Greg Rusedski, respectively. He also is hoping to build his ranking up from No. 41, where he is now, to around the top 32 so he can be seeded at the Australian Open next year.

He's already a long way from his 2002-ending ranking of No. 102, and his showing this week and, he hopes, at the U.S. Open will go a long way toward taking the term "wild card'' completely out of his vocabulary.