Friday March 1, 2013
Bethanie plans to rev her way up again
KUALA LUMPUR: Petrolhead Bethanie Mattek-Sands (pic) is hoping to rev up her singles career just like the ’66 Mustang GT that’s waiting for her back home in Phoenix, Arizona.
“I love fast cars! I love cars in general. I actually just restored a 1966 Mustang GT, but I haven’t driven it yet. But when I get home, I think after this, I’ll be able to drive it. It’s an expensive hobby ... so I need to win!” laughed Mattek-Sands, who also sports a few tattoos.
Her most elaborate one – running along the length of her right arm – is that of waterlilies (her favourite flower) and bees, which pays homage to her childhood nickname “killer bee”.
The American has been plagued by injuries to her foot, shoulder and, more recently, her hip. This has seen her singles ranking slip to No. 197.
Mattek-Sands, whose highest ranking was at No. 30 in 2011, is now looking to shift gears to try and get back to the top.
The 28-year-old has yet to land a singles title and will be hoping to continue finding success on the doubles front. She has 12 WTA doubles titles under her belt, including the Brisbane International and Dubai Championships, which she won this year with Sania Mirza of India.
So does she fancy winning her first singles title here?
“Hey, I’ll take it. I have a few more matches but obviously that’s everybody’s goal right now,” said Mattek-Sands after advancing into the quarter-finals ofthe BMW Malaysian Open by defeating China’s Duan Ying Ying 6-1, 6-4 at the Royal Selangor Golf Club (RSGC).
“I’ve played against her before a couple of weeks ago in Thailand. But I think she played better this time. My game plan was to play aggressive.
“She has a big serve and I really wanted to neutralise that and I think I did a pretty good job of that today,” added the wildcard, who is playing in Malaysia for the first time.
“It’s tough out there. Everyone is sweating, it’s humid, it’s hot and so you’re working against that too but I think I played very well today.”
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