By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MASON - The chips are down for American Mardy Fish.

All season his fellow young countrymen, Andy Roddick , Robby Ginepri and James Blake have made their mark with deep major tournament runs, or in Roddick's case, nearly unbeatable streaks.

While Fish has played well enough to reach No. 41 in the rankings, the 21-year-old hadn't advanced past the third round of a Tennis Masters Series or Grand Slam event. He changed that Thursday by moving into today's quarterfinal match against David Nalbandian , thanks to a straight-set 6-2, 6-2 win against Arnaud Clement in the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.

Fish could use the momentum from advancing even further here to gain some of the notoriety that has been afforded to the other Americans this summer.

"I've been saying for a couple years now how every big match that I play is kind of a learning experience to get up to the main stage where I want to be ultimately," Fish said. "Tomorrow will be no different, my first quarterfinal, hopefully of many more."

Fish arrived at this point by successfully building off of a 2002 season that ended with a No. 102 ranking and spots in the finals of three consecutive challenger events. He won in San Antonio.

He opened this season by getting to the third round of the Australian Open, a feat that he repeated six months later at Wimbledon. Fish also made it through to the finals at Delray Beach and Nottingham, both International Series events.

Thursday, Fish dominated No. 33 Clement, going for big shots throughout the match. Fish has given up a combined five games in his last three sets of this tournament.

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

Fish may have more of a challenge today against Nalbandian, the No. 14-ranked Argentine who knocked out Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in the second round and beat fellow Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 6-4 Thursday.

Nalbandian lost to Roddick in the Canada Tennis Master Series finals last week. He also reached the Hamburg TMS semifinals in May.

For Fish, his focus this week, and this year, has been not so much his opponent as it has been his own game.

Fish said he feels comfortable for the first time. A Top-30 ranking is a realistic goal, he said.

"I kind of felt that going into this year," Fish said. "I mean, I worked really hard in the offseason and this year was my year, along with hopefully Robby (Ginepri) and Taylor (Dent) and those other (Americans).

"I think we've shown that we can play out here, and we belong out here. We're not just going to stay at (No.) 40 in the world. We're going to keep going up."

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com