Olga Danilovic beat Venus Williams 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 at the Australian Open on Sunday after the Serbian fought back from 4-0 down in the deciding set to knock the American veteran out of the tournament in the first round.
Williams, a seven-times Grand Slam champion who returned to tennis last season after a 16-month break, received a wildcard to become the oldest woman ever to compete in the singles main draw on her return to the tournament after five years.
The 45-year-old fed off the crowd early on, racing to a 2–0 lead before Danilovic recovered and broke back to level the set.
The American produced flashes of her trademark brilliance but, after missing an early set point, was pushed into a tiebreak which she won on her fourth set point with a decisive forehand winner.
Danilovic responded emphatically, storming through the second set in just 30 minutes to force a decider.
Williams surged 4–0 ahead in the final set but Danilovic fought back, levelling the set and edging a marathon ninth game with eight deuces. Serving for the match at 5–4, the Serbian closed it out as Williams sent a forehand wide.
Danilovic, 24, was not even born when Williams made her Australian Open main-draw debut in 1998 and the crowd at the John Cain Arena gave the beaming American a standing ovation as she walked on to the court.
"These things don't happen every day and playing against Venus Williams is something that I cannot take for granted, but there were a lot of nerves," Danilovic said in her on-court interview.
"On 4-0, I said to myself, 'Just play, just take everything out and just play point by point'. I'm very happy I managed to get this one but it was such a pleasure playing against such a legend."
Danilovic will next play either American third seed Coco Gauff or Uzbekistan's Kamilla Rakhimova.
Aryna Sabalenka came under early pressure as she launched her bid for a third Australian Open title but the Belarusian clicked into gear and overpowered French wildcard Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah 6-4 6-1 to reach the second round.
The world number one arrived for the match at Rod Laver Arena as the firm favourite but found herself a break down after the opening game and looked troubled throughout the first set by the guile of left-hander Rakotomanga Rajaonah despite getting back on serve.
Sabalenka eventually found her rhythm and reasserted control, turning her initial difficulties into little more than a footnote as the 27-year-old settled into her power game to go up 5-4 and wrapped up the set with a huge forehand that her opponent returned long.
An early break in the second set helped Sabalenka go 3-0 up and there was no stopping the four-times major champion, who closed out the contest on her third matchpoint to book a second-round clash with either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Bai Zhuoxuan.
Meanwhile, tournament debutante Elsa Jacquemot upset 20th seed Marta Kostyuk 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-7) in the first Australian Open women's singles match in the Open Era to be decided via three tiebreaks.
Brisbane finalist Kostyuk rolled her ankle in the third set of the three-and-a-half-hour contest but managed to see out the match.
Fresh off her 19th WTA title win in Auckland last week, Ukrainian 12th seed Elina Svitolina stormed past Spain's Cristina Bucsa 6-4 6-1, while Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini made quick work of her opponent, beating Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1 6-2.
Meanwhile, British hope Emma Raducanu overcame a slow start to beat Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand 6-4 6-1 victory under the lights on Margaret Court Arena.
