TennisBy Michael Dixon on

While it was her first singles match in a year, Serena Williams was favored to beat France’s Harmony Tan in the first round of Wimbledon. Instead, we saw a marathon match that ended in a big upset.

Tan opened the match with a 7-5 win in the first set. Williams not only evened the match in the second set but with a 6-1 win, appeared to give herself all the momentum needed for the third set. But that was not the case. The two players battled back-and-forth in the third but Williams fought through it to take a 5-4 lead with serve. But Tan broke Serena’s serve. Then, after holding serve to go up 6-5, nearly broke Williams again, getting to match point. Serena fought back from there, though, forcing a tiebreak.

Williams had the upper hand early in the tiebreaker, scoring the first four points. But Tan battled back to take a commanding 9-7 lead on serve. Serena couldn’t come back from there, as Tan held serve to win 10-7, pulling off the upset victory.

 

It was only the third time in her career that Williams has lost a first-round match at a Grand Slam event and only the second time the match was completed.

But given that she’d been off for a year and has nothing to prove in the sport, Serena’s effort in defeat earned well-deserved high praise.

https://twitter.com/azrathearcher/status/1541900874158690306

Of course, there are two sides to every match. When the match was over, Tan admitted to being scared when she saw that she was matched up against Serena in the first round. But she didn’t play that way.

And while Serena deserved every bit of adulation that she received for her incredible effort, the same can be said for her opponent. Tan also received a lot of praise for her performance.

https://twitter.com/magwitch5151/status/1541898463247564800

Regardless of how the rest of Wimbledon plays out, this will definitely be one of the more memorable moments from the tournament.

[Photo Credit: ESPN]

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