"You can't be a first-round casualty"- When Serena Williams spoke out on winning her first-ever US Open match
Serena Williams made her US Open debut in 1998 when she was only 16 years old.
The American, who was ranked 20th in the world at the time, faced Australia's Nicole Pratt in the first round. Williams beat her 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to record her first-ever match win at the US Open.
Serena Williams spoke about her tournament debut in her post-match press conference and claimed that it was an exciting one for her. The then-teenager also stated that she kept telling herself she could not become a first-round casualty.
"I guess it was pretty exciting, particularly for me because I definitely wanted to win," Williams said. "I didn't want to go out in the first round. I kept saying to myself: 'Serena, you can't be a first-round casualty.' It just would have been horrible. I didn't want that to happen. So I had to keep concentrating: 'Okay, come on, Serena, come on.'"
After defeating Nicole Pratt, Serena Williams beat Bulgarian qualifier Pavlina Stoyanova 6-2, 6-1 to book her place in the third round, where she would face ninth seed Irina Spirlea.
The Romanian won the opening set 6-3 but Williams bageled her in the second to force the match into a decider. Spirlea took the final set 7-5 to eliminate the American and book her place in the fourth round.
Serena Williams jointly holds the record for the most number of US Open titles by a woman in the Open Era
Serena Williams is one of the greatest competitors in the history of the US Open, winning six singles titles, which is the joint record in the Open Era. She holds this distinction along with Chris Evert. Only Helen Wills Moody and Molla Bjurstedt Mallory have won more titles at the New York Major than Williams.
The American's first title at Flushing Meadows came in 1999 when she was only 17 years old. She beat Martina Hingis 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the final to become the first African-American woman to win a Grand Slam during the Open Era.
Serena Williams' second US Open triumph came in 2002 when she beat her sister Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3 in the final. She did not drop a single set throughout the tournament, a feat she would repeat while winning her third title at the New York Major in 2008.
The American won three consecutive US Open crowns from 2012-2014. Her last appearance at the tournament came in 2022 when she reached the third round before losing 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1 to Ajla Tomljanovic.