Kvitova beats Serena in Cincinnati classic

Petra Kvitova came out on top of a memorable clash in Cincinnati on Tuesday night, defeating Serena Williams to seal a third-round place at the Western & Southern Open.

Kvitova’s 6-3 2-6 6-3 victory in the high-quality match sets up a meeting in the last 16 with Kristina Mladenovic, who brushed aside qualifier Viktoria Kuzmova for the loss of only three games.

REPORT: Roger Federer returns with a win in Cincinnati

Also advancing to the third round were fifth seed Elina Svitolina and sixth seed Caroline Garcia; in a pair of highly anticipated match-ups, Svitolina overcame two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets while Garcia stopped Victoria Azarenka – another twice Grand Slam champion – 6-4 7-5 earlier on Tuesday.

Yet the biggest blockbuster of them all was Williams against Kvitova, two players who had, incredibly, played just six times throughout their lengthy and successful pro careers.

Williams led the head-to-head series 5-1 but had lost their last meeting three years ago in Madrid.

Thank you Serena and Petra for proving why it’s a crime against tennis that you only played 6 times before today. #CincyTennis

— Courtney Nguyen (@FortyDeuceTwits) August 15, 2018

The closest Kvitova had come to beating Serena another time was when she led 4-1 in the third set of their 2013 quarterfinal clash in Doha.

Unlike that battle five years ago, this time Kvitova did not falter when the finish line was in sight.

“It’s always a pleasure to share a court with her,” said the Czech, who has now won 40 matches this season and improved her record in three-set matches to 15-3. “I’m just happy I was performing pretty well today. After the second set, where she really pushed me a lot, I just tried to stay focused on my serve and just try to return anything. In the rallies it was 50-50, so I just really tried to put the return back to the court and just play what I can in the moment.”

Said Williams: “I think it was a good match today.We both played at a really high level. Only one person could win.

“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.”

Williams looked to have wrested control of the contest when, after sending the match to a deciding set, she broke in the very first game when Kvitova sent a forehand into the net.

But showing off her vastly improved movement in the next game, Kvitova tracked down some powerful groundstrokes from Williams and sent them back deep, surprising the American – who had advanced inside the baseline behind her shots – and turning the rallies back in her favour.

She broke back for 1-1, held for 2-1 and moved ahead 0-30 before Williams resettled.

The match hinged on the pivotal sixth game, during which Kvitova saved a game point with a crushing inside-out forehand into the corner that Williams could not handle. A battle at deuce ensued and the intensity went up – both women leaned into their shots, upped the grunting and vocally urged themselves on.

There is @Petra_Kvitova, hear her roar! #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/9B0OZ2BLYq

— WTA (@WTA) August 15, 2018

It was Kvitova who came out on top; Serena saved one break point but could not save a second, firing long to hand the No.8 seed a 4-2 lead.

Soon down 2-5, Williams held to love to put Kvitova immediately under pressure again and moved ahead 15-30 when she guessed right and hit a winning passing shot.

But Kvitova remained calm, hit herself way out of trouble and clinched victory in a touch under two hours.

She takes a 5-1 winning record over Mladenovic into their third-round encounter.

“We all know how tough it is to come back to play at the great level as we wanted to compete with the best players,” Kvitova said of both her and Serena’s comebacks to the game after lengthy absences.

“Since this season and since my coming back I play really great – I couldn’t imagine myself to be in the top 10 in a year of coming back.”

Pliskova, Mertens, Barty advance

First-round matches were also completed on Tuesday, with No.9 seed Karolina Pliskova defeating Agnieszka Radwanska for the first time to advance to a meeting with Aryna Sabalenka.

Pliskova had lost all seven of her meetings with Radwanska but a 6-3 6-3 victory finally banished those ghosts.

“It was a tough round for me because I’ve never beaten her, never even taken a set. I was so happy when I won the first set because I thought, ‘Finally, one set for me!'” said the 2016 Cincinnati champion.

“I think the match was under my control. She had a couple of break points, but even if she would break me I still felt like I’m the better one today. I had even like some of her service games under control. So it was pretty much about me.

“The conditions here I feel quite good, not because I won here two years ago and played the semis last year, but just it’s flying, it’s pretty fast, so I felt like there was no wind, so it was perfect for me today.”

Fellow seeds Elise Mertens (15) and Ashleigh Barty (16) scored straight-sets wins over Magdalena Rybarikova and Marketa Vondrousova respectively to reach the last 32.

Also progressing were Maria Sakkari, Kiki Bertens – a 6-2 6-0 winner over CoCo Vandeweghe – and Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Qualifiers Petra Martic, Kaia Kanepi and Tatjana Maria also won, as did teenage wildcard Amanda Anisimova and lucky loser Camila Giorgi.