Serena Williams vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova: Score, Reaction from 2016 Miami Open

Serena Williams' bid for a ninth singles title at the Miami Masters came to an abrupt halt on Monday as she lost her fourth-round match to Svetlana Kuznetsova.  

The world No. 1 fought through a first-set tiebreaker but got steamrolled in the second set before ultimately falling by a score of 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-2 at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park.

Williams had won this tournament the past three years running and appeared keen to keep that winning trend up this year after grinding through the first set. However, her streak of 20 victories at the Miami Open was extinguished in shocking fashion.

Fox Sports' Chris Chase highlighted the recent struggles Williams has had, putting it in contrast to a long span of phenomenal play:

Kevin Fischer of WTATennis.com pointed out how Kuznetsova had a history of upending the best players in the world coming in:

WTA on Twitter showed footage of match point, which culminated in one of Williams' numerous unforced errors of the afternoon:

A big turning point in the opening set went in Williams' favor. She raced out to take the first three games, only to drop the next three and fall behind 0-40 on serve. After fighting off the three break points to hold and nearly breaking Kuznetsova in the subsequent game, everything seemed to be going her way.

The first set wound up being highly competitive, but Williams ultimately prevailed despite letting Kuznetsova get a second-serve ace at 40-40 up 6-5. That helped set the stage for a tiebreaker, where Williams seized momentum by taking seven of 10 points.

But Kuznetsova wasn't going to go quietly to say the least. Williams saved a break down 1-0 on serve with her eighth ace of the match and fought off two additional break points to hold. 

Those missed opportunities didn't take the wind out of Williams' adversary, whose tremendous efforts continued and culminated in a big break to go up 3-1. A proficient serving day helped Kuznetsova immensely, as she won 75 percent of her first-serve points.

Live Tennis reacted to the action as Kuznetsova staged a stunning display of dominance normally reserved for Williams:

"

Serena is rarely the recipient of a bagel - so a breadstick is the next best thing. 6-1 second set to #Kuznetsova! pic.twitter.com/6O0pzSrlG2

— Live Tennis (@livetennis) March 28, 2016"

Fifteen unforced errors to only 13 winners in the second set was what doomed Williams, whereas Kuznetsova socked 11 winners to just two unforced errors, per Live Tennis.

That trend continued into the third when Williams surrendered breaks on her first two service games to fall into a quick 3-0 hole. ESPN The Magazine's Howard Bryant noted how passive Williams appears to be playing:

Not long thereafter was when Williams made a third-set push, breaking to get back on serve 3-1 rather than falling two games away from being goose-egged in the decider. That set the stage to make the remainder of the match far more interesting.

But an erratic serve continued to hinder Williams. The next game ended in another break for Kuznetsova as Williams committed her ninth double-fault of the match. From there it was all but over.

WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen pondered the implications of the 2016 campaign thus far for Williams as her year moves into the clay-court season:

Erik Gudris of Tennis Now weighed in on Kuznetsova's performance:

Jeff Donaldson of the Tennis Island wondered how Kuznetsova was able to rise to the occasion in such an extraordinary way:

Taking 12 of 15 games off of arguably the best women's tennis player of all time is no small feat, particularly at a tournament where Williams is the three-time reigning champion and has had such immense success.

Nothing seemed to faze Kuznetsova, who should bask in the glory of Monday's triumph but has to bear in mind she still has three matches on the horizon if she wants to take home a marquee WTA Masters title.

Kuznetsova awaits the winner of Elina Svitolina and Ekaterina Makarova in the quarterfinals. Svitolina defeated Caroline Wozniacki in the third round and is a 21-year-old rising star.

Makarova is left-handed, which presents different angles of attack for opponents to deal with. She is also one of the few players with enough power on her groundstrokes to hang with someone like Kuznetsova on the hard courts.

Post-Match Reaction

Williams implied that her opponents are always going to be up for a chance to defeat her and that she struggles to maintain that kind of constant intensity.

"I can't win every match, there's players that come out [and] play me like they've never played before in their lives," said Williams, per TSN's John Horn.

Despite the magnitude of her win, Kuznetsova was classy and conscientious of those who'd hoped to see Williams advance, per WTATennis.com:

"

I'm really thrilled. I'm sorry, fans who are disappointed that Serena's not going to keep playing, but for sure she'll be at more events than here. I'm really happy with my performance; I tried to stay at a good level the whole game, put as many balls back. I think I did that pretty well and I'm happy with the way I served today.

"

"I've been on this court many times. I love playing on this stage; the fans in my Miami are great. I love being back here and I'm really happy with my performance," added Kuznetsova, per the WTATennis.com report.

Note: Match stats courtesy of WTATennis.com unless otherwise indicated.