Serena Williams called time on her brilliant career in 2023, with a staggering 72 singles titles and a further 23 trophies playing in a doubles competition.
Williams had some tough opponents during her career. However, there was never really one player who truly dominated her, with the younger of the tennis-playing sisters spending 319 weeks as the world’s number one in her playing days.
Recently, Williams was back in the spotlight at the Super Bowl. She joined Kendrick Lemar on the field for the half-time show and it’s fair to say that her superb dance moves were up there with her tennis-playing capabilities and maybe she’s simply good at everything she turns her hand to!
Williams won 23 Grand Slam titles, with Wimbledon proving her most successful slam. Her powerful game was tailor-made for the grass and her seven titles left her level with Steffi Graff and just two behind Martina Navratilova.
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Virginia Ruano Pascual was the first player to defeat Serena Williams at Wimbledon
In 1998 during her maiden year on the WTA Tour, Williams arrived with no reputation other than the one of being a very talented prospect who might well be a future Grand Slam champion.
It was only the third Grand Slam that Williams had taken part in after losing in round two of the Australian Open and the fourth round of the French Open, Serena arrived at Wimbledon looking to showcase her potential.
Serena did actually manage to win two matches on her first visit to SW19 in the main draw too. In the first round, she knocked out Laura Golarsa before hammering Croatian player Mirjana Lucic in round two.
Her first-ever Wimbledon defeat came at the hands of Spanish player Virginia Ruano Pascual. The unseeded player progressed after Williams retired at 4-1 down in the second set following a 7-5 first-set reversal.
Annoyingly a win would have set up a mouthwatering round-four clash with sister Venus. Thankfully, for tennis lovers, however, the pair would go on to do battle on many occasions at Wimbledon as their careers progressed.
Virginia Ruano Pascual never reached the semi-final of a Grand Slam
The Spanish player won three career titles – which paled in comparison to the trophy haul that Williams claimed during her career.
In 1998, Venus ended Ruano Pascual’s run at Wimbledon and the fourth round was as good as it got at the All England Club for the player who achieved a career-high of 28 in 1999.
In fact, the Grand Slam events didn’t prove to be a friend of Pascual. She reached the quarter-final at the Australian Open and the French Open but never went beyond round three at the US Open.
Pascual didn’t turn out to be great when it came to tennis from a singles perspective, however, she did become a bit of a specialist doubles player and enjoyed great success.
She won 10 Grand Slam doubles titles during her career. She was ranked as the world number one doubles player in 2003 alongside Argentine player Paola Suarez.
In terms of singles, the win over Williams is something that she might look back on with some pride and she will forever be known as the first player to beat the legendary Serena at Wimbledon.
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