Monica Niculescu laughs off failed underarm serves in Wimbledon opener

Six years ago Monica Niculescu made her deepest run at Wimbledon and reached the round of 16. This year, things look a little different for the Romanian, but she nevertheless managed three matches in a row at the grass-court major—albeit in qualifying—by taking out Ulrikke Eikeri, Asia Muhammad and Kristie Ahn to secure a main draw spot.

Niculescu was dealt a tough opener in No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, but kicked off the affair by grabbing the first point of the match, which also happened to be Wimbledon's first main draw point in two years.

Even as she fell behind by a set in 29 minutes, Niculescu wasn't afraid to give anything a try and whipped out an underarm serve to get on the board in the second set.

The former world No. 28 didn't have much luck as the ball didn't make it over the net. Niculescu attempted the shot a second time two games later, but the pesky net again interrupted her execution of the trick shot. Sabalenka didn't notice the serve was struck until she heard it hit the tape.

All the 33-year-old could do was laugh at her failed attempts to catch the Belarusian off guard and ultimately bowed out of SW19 in just over an hour, 6-1, 6-4.

Sabalenka's seamless win booked her a second-round encounter against either American qualifier Danielle or and British wildcard Katie Boulter.