Crowd favourite Jennifer Capriati stumbled into the second round of the U.S. Open on Monday and then admitted that winning the title would be "a dream come true".

The eighth-seeded American, a former winner of the Australian and French Opens, came from a set down to beat Czech Denisa Chladkova 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 in a tough first-round encounter.

Despite struggling to advance, Capriati believes she has the ability to win the title, having reached the semi-finals in two of the past three years.

"It would be a dream come true," added Capriati, who next plays Magui Serna of Spain.

"It would just be definitely the icing on the cake for me."

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After dropping the first set, Capriati broke in the third game of the second set and then ripped through the final two sets for the loss of just three games.

"I really feel like I didn't play badly," she said. "I was maybe just on the defensive too much and was kind of taken off guard a bit.

"But I definitely practiced everything out there, between the mental and the physical."

Capriati said a hamstring injury that had hampered her since reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon had cleared up.

"I have to say this is the best I have felt, you know, for the year," she said.