Serena Williams has lost the first Fed Cup singles match of her career, falling to Anastasija Sevastova in three sets in Washington as Latvia pulled even with the United States at 2-all in the best-of-five contest.

Sevastova won 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-6 (7-4), avenging a loss to Williams in their only previous meeting in the 2018 US Open semifinals when Sevastova won only three games.

This time it was Sevastova celebrating, closing out the match with a huge serve Williams couldn’t return.

Williams had been 14-0 in Fed Cup singles dating to her debut in 1999, including a straight-sets win over Jelena Ostapenko on Friday night that had two tiebreakers.

“It’s obviously hard to play Serena and she’s an amazing champion,” Sevastova said.

“You just try and enjoy it as best you can and give your best.”

The best-of-five series between the countries will be decided by the doubles match late Saturday night. The winner will advance to the Fed Cup Finals in April in Budapest, Hungary.

Williams had chances to clinch a victory for the US and wrap up their spot in the finals.

She rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the opening set by winning four straight games and had three set points with Sevastova serving.

However the Latvian managed to hold serve thanks to a couple of errors by Williams and a pair of aces.

Williams broke the serve of Sevastova four times in the second-set but couldn’t find the same success in the final set as both players held serve into the tiebreaker.

Williams pulled even at 4-all but Sevastova won the final three points.

Both of the top-ranked Americans stumbled in singles on Saturday. Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin lost in three sets to Ostapenko in the opening match.

Ostapenko beat Kenin 6-3 2-6 6-2 to give Latvia their first point against the Americans.

Ostapekno broke Kenin four times in the third set as the former French Open champion outlasted the most recent Grand Slam winner.