By Emmanuel Okogba

Harmony Tan, ranked 113th and a debutant at Wimbledon defeated Serena Williams 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) in a game that took over three hours to progress to the second round.

Despite racing to a 3-1 lead in the third set, Williams was not able to capitalize and allowed Tan drag it into a tiebreak game in the tiebreak set.

Williams returned to the court for the first time in a year, entering the Wimbledon singles draw as a wildcard. The seven times Wimbledon winner was clearly favoured by the centre court crowd that had her sister Venus as they cheered her on.

Williams last competed in a Wimbledon first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich in 2021, when she slipped on the wet grass and was forced to retire early in the first set with a left leg injury. She currently ranks 1,208.

Tan admitted to being scared when she saw the draw pitting her against Williams and attributed her win to sheer resileince