By Chris Oddo | Tuesday August 14, 2018
Petra Kvitova and Serena Williams’ heavily anticipated first meeting in over three years turned out to be everything fans had hoped for—and more.
More: Federer Makes Hardcourt Debut with Victory in Cincinnati
Two inspirational figures, leaving it all out there on the court in front of a packed house of appreciative faithful in Cincinnati. Two legendary talents, known for their high-octane aggression, scintillating shotmaking and a never-say-die ethos.
Neither player disappointed on Tuesday, but there could only be one winner, unfortunately.
That was Kvitova, who claimed a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 triumph to book her spot in the third round at the Western and Southern Open, but Williams may have emerged with more than a stinging loss from this contest as well. That’s because the American played some of her best tennis since this season, and she showed a true tolerance in longer rallies that had plagued her over her last two losses, in the Wimbledon final to Angelique Kerber and in San Jose, where she suffered the most lopsided loss of her career to Johanna Konta in the first round.
In the end it wasn’t enough to push Williams to a big victory, but the 23-time major champion is preaching patience after she mixed it up with Kvitova for one hour and 58 minutes.
“I'm still at the very beginning,” Williams told reporters. “You know, this is a long comeback. I just began. I just started. Definitely at the very, very beginning. I'm getting there, and I'm going to just continue to work hard, and hopefully I'll start winning more matches.”
The win was big for Kvitova, who entered Cincinnati with three losses in her last four matches, including a disappointing first-round loss to Aliaksandra Sasnovich at Wimbledon that had to be crushing for the Czech.
“Definitely was one of the best matches I have played this year, for sure,” Kvitova said. “It was big hitting today. We were really battling about every point, every game. It was really a great match from both of us, I think.”
That’s saying a lot for a woman that just won her 40th match of the season tonight, but it shows the value of a win over Serena Williams—even a woman with five titles on the season views a second-round win over the American as massive.
Kvitova was in fantastic form in the early going and broke twice in the first set to while only dropping four points on her serve to lead 6-3.
But Williams hit back, and really started to make hay in longer rallies and on return in the second set. She broke twice and saved all three break points she faced to force a decider.
“I was looking forward to the longer points, which is not normal,” Williams told reporters, adding: “It's just getting used to, you know, the pace and everything again.”
After a trade of breaks to start the third set the server held sway until Kvitova broke critically four 4-2. It would prove to be the final break of the evening.
The Czech improves to 2-5 lifetime against Williams and has now won two in a row against the 36-year-old. She advances to face France’s Kristina Mladenovic in the third round.
“Playing Serena in front of the USA crowd always it's kind of fun,” Kvitova said. “You know, playing against the crowd, it's not that great, but I did feel, you know, the energy from the crowd, so it was great. Overall, I think it's a great win back on the hard courts going to US Open, so it's great.”