Serena Williams made her Wimbledon singles debut at the 1998 event.
The American superstar won her first match on debut, beating Italy’s Laura Golarsa 6-4, 6-3.
How many singles matches do you think Serena Williams will win at Wimbledon this year?
The 17-year-old continued to impress the Wimbledon crowd in the next round, defeating Mirjana Lučić-Baroni 6-3, 6-0.
By defeating the Croatian, Serena set up a third-round match against Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual.
Virginia Ruano Pascual was the first player to beat Serena Williams at Wimbledon
Pascual, an 11-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, ended Serena’s run in the third round.
The Spanish star [pictured below, left] led Serena 7-5, 4-1, when the American was forced to retire from the match.
Serena retired from the contest due to an injury to her left calf.
After the contest, Serena expressed her disappointment at not being able to set up a fourth-round match against her sister, Venus.
“We were going to be pretty excited about facing each other again,” Serena said, as per Sportskeeda. “It was going to give something exciting to England for once.
“I could have carried on if I wanted to, but I have to think about the future,” the youngster added.
“I don’t want to hurt myself over something silly and be out for two months just because I didn’t stop.”
As for Pascual, she was unable to move past Venus Williams in the fourth round, losing 6-3, 6-1.
Venus went on to lose in the last eight to eventual champion Jana Novotna.
When did Virginia Ruano Pascual retire?
After winning 42 career titles, Pascual called time on her career in 2010.
The former doubles world number one played her last WTA Tour singles match at the 2010 Madrid Open.
In the first round, Pascual was beaten 6-3, 6-2 by compatriot and world number 65, Arantxa Parra Santonja.
Pascual played her last doubles event at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships.
Pascual and Meghann Shaughnessy defeated Ekaterina Dzehalevich and Tatiana Poutchek in the first round, 6-4, 7-5.
They were then defeated by Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik.
