London: Maya Joint played and won the biggest match of her young career to end the Wimbledon singles comeback of the legend Serena Williams in a Centre Court thriller.
Joint, who had never won at Wimbledon before and had entered The Championships on a run of 11 Tour-level defeats dating back to January, registered 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 win over the seven-time champion. She will next face Alexandra Eala.
Serena saved a first match point in the second-set tie-break and then led by a break in the decider. She defied time with an accomplished display but could not tame Joint’s spirit. The 20-year-old Aussie stood up to Serena's power and broke her legendary serve five times before ultimately outlasting her. She also sent down 10 aces.
At 44, Serena was the second-oldest woman to play in the Wimbledon women’s singles in the Open era after 47-year-old Martina Navratilova in 2004. The 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena had last played a singles match 1,397 days ago at the 2022 US Open against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.
