WTA Tennis: Kvitova trips Serena in an all-out slugfest at the Cincinnati Master.

Petra Kvitova outslugged Serena Williams 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in the second round at the Cincinnati Master on Tuesday.

Petra Kvitova can push anyone behind the baseline.

Petra Kvitova, on her day, can out-slug just about anyone, including a healthy Serena. Those days, however, are few and far between. Her go-for-a-winner on every ball playing style, with flat shots, is prone to errors and inconsistencies and incapable of putting together a string of titles or good run at a few tournaments to capture and maintain the number one slot in the game. When Petra is on her game, she can push anyone way behind the baseline and gasping for breath.

Serena Williams’ playing style is more consistent than Kvitova’s.

Serena Williams too plays an aggressive and hard-hitting game but has ample top-spin to her shots which lend considerable consistency to her game. She was being bullied by Petra in the match but refused to back off the baseline and responded to Petra’s hard ground-shots with winners of her own. She evened the score 1-1 by winning the second and broke Petra in the opening game to lead 1-0 I the third, but Kvitova somehow dialed in again and broke Serena right back in the second game of the third and did not look back from there.

Kvitova managed to outhit Serena in the match.

The match was a slugfest with both playing aggressively and going for broke on the slightest of opportunity. Kvitova, however, outhit Serena in this bout, but Serena still leads Petra 5-2 and may even get to avenge this loss at the US Open in about three weeks.