Serena Williams wins first match at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England — Used to be that players would dread the prospect of facing Serena Williams, especially at Wimbledon.

Nowadays, they seem to be eager to go up against her — not because they think they can beat Williams, mind you, but because, well, she’s Serena Williams, and what better way to create a memory for life than to share a court with one of the, if not THE, greatest in the history of tennis.

So that’s why Giulia Gatto-monticone, a 31-year-old qualifier from Italy making her debut at the All England Club, was thrilled when the draw put her up against Williams in the first round Tuesday, and the schedule put them on Centre Court, to boot. So what if Gatto-monticone fell behind 5-0 in 17 minutes and wound up losing 6-2, 7-5?

“Incredibly happy to play her,” Gatto-monticone said afterward. “Serena is Serena.”

The whole day was, she said, “a dream come true,” filled with smiles and tears and goose bumps. From the tour of the stadium that she, her coach, her physiotherapist and her physiotherapist’s son were given in the morning: “We went through the club members’ area. Just a spectacular place. Truly beautiful couches, flowers. We saw the trophies. We saw the entrance to the court,” Gatto-monticone said.

To the match itself, which was briefly even in the second set at 5-all, prompting an Italian reporter to ask whether Gatto-monticone wondered whether maybe she had a chance: “No,” came the reply, “I never thought that.”

Two former Wimbledon winners who have struggled this season, Maria Sharapova and Garbine Muguruza, both lost, as did a pair of major champions elsewhere, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Sam Stosur.

Defending champion Angelique Kerber, two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and Ash Barty all won in straight sets.

The men’s bracket lost its third top-10 seed, though, when No. 5 Dominic Thiem was eliminated by Sam Querrey of the United States.