Harmony Tan: who is Wimbledon 2022 tennis star who beat Serena Williams, ranking, will she play Emma Raducanu?

The tennis world was full of excitment as the 23-Grand Slam winner Serena Williams was set to return to the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and join the WTA tour for the first time in a year.

Williams was given the centre stage spotlight after Rafael Nadal had defeated Francisco Cerundolo in a three hour extravaganza.

However, Williams was evidently shaky during her match and the 24-year-old French player Harmony Tan was able to break her opponent’s serve in the first game.

The french player will now look ahead to her second round match tomorrow as well as her doubles matches as she continues her Wimbledon 2022 campaign.

Who is Harmony Tan?

Harmony Tan was born in Paris France and turned professional in 2012.

She is of Chinese-Cambodian descent and is currently coached by Nathalie Tauziat and Sam Sumyk.

Tan made her WTA Tour and Grand Slam main-draw singles debut at the 2018 US Open, followed by her main-draw singles debut on the WTA Challenger Tour in January 2019 in Newport Beach.

She has eight ITF titles to her name.

The 24-year-old had reached a career high ranking of number 90 in the WTA rankings but is currently ranked at number 115.

In Grand Slams, Tan has reached the second round of the Australian Open, French Open and now Wimbledon as well as the first round of the US Open.

In doubles’ tournaments, Tan is currently ranked at number 611 having previously enjoyed a career high of 302. She is partnered with the German player Tamara Korpatsch at Wimbledon 2022.

What happened in Williams v Tan?

Everyone had great expectations that William would be able to fight for her 24th and record-equalling Grand Slam title at Wimbledon 2022 but it was not to be.

A shaky and nervous Williams dropped her first game and Tan went on to fight for the first set 7-5.

Williams then came back fighting as she took the second set 6-1 but was unable to convert this into a win as Tan took the final set 7-6 (10-6) coming from 6-5 down to triumph.

The match was an epic three hours and 10 minutes, the longest in the Ladies Singles’ tournament so far.

After the match, Tan spoke to the press saying: “When I saw the draw, I was really scared. Because it’s Serena Williams, she’s a legend.

“I was like, oh my God. How can I play? If I could win one game, or two games, it’s really good for me.”

Williams said: “Today I gave all I could do. Maybe tomorrow I could have gave more. Maybe a week ago I could have gave more. But today was what I could do. At some point you have to be able to be OK with that. And that’s all I can do.”

When will Harmony Tan play next?

Tan is set to play later on today, Wednesday 29 June 2022, in the doubles tournament. Partnered with Korpatsch, the pair are set to take on Raluca Olaru and Nadiia Kichenok in the first round of the Ladies’ Doubles tournament.

In the Ladies’ singles tournament, Tan will face the Spanish player Sara Sorribes Tormo.

It is currently unknown what time the pair will start play but it will be played tomorrow, Thursday 30 June 2022.

Sorribes Tormo is ranked number 39 in the world and is the 32nd seed at Wimbledon 2022.

How to watch Harmony Tan play Wimbledon 2022

BBC have all the rights to Wimbledon. Matches will be available to watch on BBC One and BBC Two with fans also able to keep up with the action on BBC iPlayer.