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Despite boasting 34 Grand Slam singles titles between them, Serena Williams and Roger Federer were forced to share the spotlight with a 15-year-old at the US Open on Tuesday as all three advanced to the second round.
American wild card Catherine Bellis, the youngest player in the draw, took her place alongside the five-time US champions by stunning 12th seeded Australian Open finalist Dominica Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Playing on the secondary Court Six, the teenager added her name to the record books by becoming the youngest female to win a match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996.
"I went into the match thinking it was going to be such a great experience," said the pony-tailed Bellis, who received her wild card when she became the youngest player to win the girls' 18s national championships since Lindsay Davenport in 1991.
"But I never thought I would come out on top winning. I'm still in shock about that match."
The second-seeded Federer, looking to extend his record men's haul of slam titles to 18, posted a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (4) demolition of Australian Marinko Matosevic as the 33-year-old's boyhood idol Michael Jordan of basketball fame looked on.
Williams advanced 6-3 6-1 over unseeded fellow American Taylor Townsend as she followed Federer onto the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to cap the second day of the championships.
Should she go on to win the tournament, the two-times defending champion would join Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova in fourth place on the all-time list of women's Grand Slam singles champions with 18 titles apiece.
"Hopefully, I can just build on this," said Williams, who has had a disappointing slam season with her best result a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open back in January.
Margaret Court (24), Steffi Graf (22) and Helen Wills Moody (19) are the only three women to have won more Grand Slam titles.
