Mattek-Sands excited for crack at Serena: 'It's going to be a battle out there'

Bethanie Mattek-Sands has never been much of a singles player - her highest-ever year-end ranking is 39th, and she's currently at 101st - but she's having a whale of a doubles season at age 30.

She's up to a career-best No. 3 in the world, having won two Slams in doubles (at the Australian and French Opens) and one in mixed doubles (also at the Aussie). And she may be carrying some of that confidence and success over into the singles ranks, as she's coming off one of her most impressive performances in memory - a 6-2, 6-1 drubbing of compatriot CoCo Vandeweghe in the second round at the US Open.

Into the third round of the singles draw at Flushing Meadows for the first time, she's about to have that confidence challenged in the most daunting way imaginable: with a match against Serena Williams on Friday.

"She's playing great," Mattek-Sands said of her impending opponent, a sentiment the 21-time major champ herself might disagree with. "Right now she's on a mission to get a record, and I'm here playing my game. I think it's going to be a battle out there. I'm going to do my best."

The two have played each other only twice, the last time coming way back in 2008. While Williams won both meetings handily, she's been struggling with her biggest weapon - her serve - lately, and had to ward off a bout of nerves in her uneven second-round win Wednesday.

Mattek-Sands knows that's no reason to get comfortable.

"Obviously Serena's pretty aggressive," she said. "She's going to rip some balls, hit some big serves. I think it's going to be a good match. That's obviously going to be the clash there. I'm excited for it."

The most encouraging thing for Mattek-Sands right now is that she's healthy - something she's hasn't been able to say too often throughout her career - and appears as motivated as she's ever been.

"It's like I've been saving all my matches and tournaments for the back end of my career," she said. "I have missed a lot of tournaments. I think I only averaged like eight to nine tournaments a year just with my injuries. I think players retire because either they mentally don't want to do it anymore or physically stop doing it. Right now mentally I'm right there and physically I'm feeling great, so I'm happy to keep playing."