Serena Williams was knocked out by the eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova in the second round of the Western & Southern Open. Kvitova defeated the 23 WTA singles title winner in a 3-set match by 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

Serena Williams suffers defeat in Cincinnati Masters to Petra Kvitova https://t.co/AAhYWTPhWa pic.twitter.com/w5j0RC00ZZ — EDAFE MATTHEW ESEOGHENE (@ELEGBETE1) August 15, 2018

Williams, who was participating the tournament for the first time after 2015, defeated Daria Gavrilova in the straight round. She won the title in 2015.

After the loss, Serena said:

"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."

Serena, the younger sister of Venus Williams made her comeback to the WTA last year in September since giving birth to the baby. She has so far appeared in 5 tournaments since then. She reached the final of the Wimbledon but was defeated by Angelique Kerber.

Following the knockout, she will now be eying on the US Open tennis to take her WTA titles tally to 24.