Harmony Tan pulled the plug on the Serena Williams Wimbledon show in the first round with a stunning 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7) victory over the 23-time Grand Slam Champion on Tuesday at the All England Club in London.
Tan, ranked 115th in the world, played a more complete match than Williams and was stronger in the tiebreaker, scoring 10 of the final 13 points to finish the biggest victory of her career.
The 24-year-old Frenchwoman was playing in the first Wimbledon match of her career. She was more fit than the 40-year-old Williams, who occasionally struggled physically in the marathon match of three hours and 11 minutes.
“When I saw the draw, I was really scared,” Tan said afterward. “It’s Serena Williams. She’s a legend. I was like, ‘Oh my god, how can I play?’ And if I can win one game or two games, it’s really good for me.”
Williams hit 61 winners but committed 54 unforced errors while playing in her first singles match in 364 days. Her last one also was at Wimbledon when she had to retire against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus after injuring a hamstring.
“It was definitely a very long battle and fight,” Williams said in her post-match press conference. “I feel like in just those key points, winning some of those points, is always something mentally that you have to have, that you kind of need. I did pretty good on maybe one or two of ‘em, but obviously not enough.”
Williams’ most recent Grand Slam title came in the 2017 Australian Open when she defeated her sister, Venus. Margaret Court holds the record of 24 Grand Slam titles.
Williams staved off a match point in the third set and won the first four points of the tiebreaker before Tan dominated the final stretch.
“Maybe a week ago I could have gave more, but today was what I could do,” Williams said. “At some point you have to be able to be OK with that.”
Tan had 29 winners and 28 unforced errors.
“It’s amazing for my first Wimbledon, it’s just amazing,” Tan said.
Tan will next face 32nd-seeded Sara Sorribes Tormo. The Spaniard sailed to a 6-2, 6-1 win over qualifier Christina McHale on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland ran her winning streak to 36 consecutive matches with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Croatian qualifier Jana Fett.
Swiatek’s winning streak is the longest on the WTA tour since Martina Hingis won 37 straight matches in 1997.
“It’s my first match on grass this season, so I knew it’s going to be tricky,” Swiatek said afterward. “I’m just figuring out how to play here and trying to implement all the stuff that we were practicing on.”
No. 11 seed Coco Gauff, who lost to Swiatek in the French Open final earlier this month, also started off with a victory. Gauff started slow before beating Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Fourth-seeded Paula Badosa of Spain cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over qualifier Louisa Chirico, while No. 5 Maria Sakkari of Greece posted a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Australian qualifier Zoe Hives.
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, seeded 12th, registered a 6-4, 6-4 victory over France’s Oceane Dodin. No. 13 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic recorded a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska.
China’s Qiang Wang upset 14th-seeded Swiss Belinda Bencic 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Romania’s Simona Halep, seeded 16th, knocked off Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2.
Elena Rybakina, seeded 17th, beat CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6 (2), 7-5. Vandeweghe was a last-minute addition to the field after fellow American Madison Keys pulled out with an abdominal injury.
Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic defeated 18th-seeded Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 6-2, 6-3. No. 20 Amanda Anisimova beat China’s Yue Yuan 6-3, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
