Fifteen-year-old qualifier Cori "Coco" Gauff will face five-time champion Venus Williams in the first round at Wimbledon, part of a women's draw in which recent French Open winner and top-seeded Ashleigh Barty's route to the final could be lined with former champions.
Gauff on Thursday became the youngest Wimbledon qualifier in the Open Era at 15 years and 122 days when she defeated Greet Minnen, 6-1, 6-1.
And she has been rewarded with a meeting with an all-time great in Williams, 39, who herself was just 17 when she made the U.S. Open final and lost to Martina Hingis.
Meanwhile, Barty, whose first Grand Slam title at the French Open and victory last week at the Birmingham Classic has seen rise her to the top of the WTA rankings, is the No. 1 seed in the women's singles but the draw has been no kinder to her as a result.
She opens against Zheng Saisai but faces a possible third-round clash with 2017 winner Garbine Muguruza and a quarterfinal with defending champion Angelique Kerber or Serena Williams, who are on course to meet in the last 16.
The first round of The Championships...
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 28, 2019
15-year-old @CocoGauff will play 39-year-old @Venuseswilliams #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/N6PMi3YN3y
Kerber starts her title defense against Tatjana Maria while Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, faces qualifier Giulia Gatto-Monticone in the first round.
Maria Sharapova also features in a star-studded top half of the draw, and there is plenty to whet the appetite in the bottom section, including a prospective quarterfinal between Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka.
World No. 1 Osaka, the reigning U.S. and Australian Open champion, takes on Yulia Putintseva — who beat her in Birmingham — first up and may have to deal with a fourth-round encounter with another former world No. 1 in Caroline Wozniacki.
Halep, the 2018 French Open champion, meets Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the opening round and could face Aryna Sabalenka in a round of 16 that may also feature a contest between Sloane Stephens and two-time winner Petra Kvitova.