|
This Day in U.S. Open History
Posted: Fri August 28, 1998 at 4:28 p.m. EDT
|
August 23rd
1931 - Helen Wills Moody wins her record seventh U.S. women's
singles title by defeating Eileen Bennett Whitingstall, 6-4,
6-1.
August 25th
1997 - The new Arthur Ashe Stadium is dedicated with an on-court
ceremony that features Ashe's widow Jeanne Moutassamy Ashe,
singer Whitney Houston and 38 former champions. Tamarine
Tanasugarn wins the first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium with a
6-4, 6-0 victory over Chanda Rubin. Venus Williams, who went on
to reach the final, made a successful U.S. Open debut by
defeating Larisa Neiland, 5-7, 6-0, 6-1.
August 26th
1933 - Helen Wills Moody retires during the final set of the
women's singles final against Helen Jacobs, snapping her
45-match winning streak at the U.S. Championships.
August 27th
1903 - H.L. Doherty of Britain becomes the first foreign player
to win the U.S. Championships by defeating William Larned at
Newport, Rhode Islands.
1975 - In front of a crowd of 4,949 at the West Side Tennis
Club, Onny Parun defeats Stan Smith 6-4, 6-2 in the first night
match ever played at the U.S. Open.
1985 - Mary Joe Fernandez, at the age of 14 years and eight
days, becomes the youngest player to win a match at the U.S.
Open when she defeats Sara Gomer 6-1, 6-4 in the first round.
August 28th
1990 - Stefan Edberg becomes the first number one seeded player
since John Newcombe in 1971 to lose in the first round of the
U.S. Open when he is defeated by Alexander Volkov, 6-3, 7-6,
6-2.
1995 - Monica Seles returns to the U.S. Open for the first time
since 1992 and defeats Ruxandra Dragomir, 6-3, 6-1.
August 29th
1968 - Open tennis begins at the U.S. Championships. Billie Jean
King plays the first stadium match at the U.S. Open, defeating
Long Island dentist and alternate player Dr. Vija Vuskains 6-1,
6-0. Amateurs Ray Moore and Jim Osbourne register upset wins
over professionals; Moore defeating number 10 seed Andres Gimeno
4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 and Osbourne defeating Barry MacKay 8-6, 4-6,
7-5, 6-3.
1978 - The gates open at the USTA National Tennis Center for the
facility's grand opening. Bjorn Borg and Bob Hewitt play the
first U.S. Open match under the lights at Flushing Meadow with
Borg winning 6-0, 6-2.
August 30th
1978 - The USTA National Tennis Center hosts its first full day
of U.S. Open tennis.
1979 - In one of the wildest matches ever at the U.S. Open, John
McEnroe defeats Ilie Nastase 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a night match
that features Nastase being defaulted by chair-umpire Frank
Hammond. An 18-minute free-for-all ensues in which fans become
uncontrollable and Nastase is re-instated by tournament referee
Mike Blanchard. Blanchard then replaces Hammond on the chair for
the remainder of the match.
1979 - Kathy Horvath, just five days past her 14th birthday when
she loses a first round match to Diane Fromholtz 7-6, 6-2 to
become the youngest person to play a match at the U.S. Open.
1989 - Down match point, Boris Becker benefits from a net-cord
passing shot just out of the reach of Derrick Rostagno in his
1-6, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 come-from-behind victory. Also on the
stadium, qualifier Paul Haarhuis stuns number four seed John
McEnroe 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in one of the biggest upsets in U.S.
Open history. In the next match on the stadium court, 18-year
old Pete Sampras upsets defending champion and number five seed
Mats Wilander 5-7, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.
August 31st
1969 - Two 41-year olds, Torben Ulrich and Pancho Gonzalez,
thrill the crowd at the West Side Tennis Club with an exciting,
five-set third round match won by Gonzalez, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 8-6,
6-2.
1979 - Sixteen-year-old Tracy Austin defeats 14-year-old Andrea
Jaeger 6-2, 6-2 in the second round of the 1981 U.S. Open. Six
years later, both players would be out of the game.
September 1st
1971 - John Newcombe becomes the first top-seeded male to lose
in the first round of the U.S. Open when he is defeated by Jan
Kodes 2-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3.
1987 - Fifteen-year-old Michael Chang defeats Paul McNamee 6-3,
6-7, 6-4, 6-4 to become the youngest man to ever win a match at
the U.S. Open.
1993 - Goran Ivanisevic and Daniel Nestor play the longest
tie-break in the history of the U.S. Open (38 points) as
Ivanisevic prevails 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (20-18) in a first round
encounter.
September 2nd
1924 - Bill Tilden wins his fifth straight U.S. men's singles
title with a 6-1, 9-7, 6-2 victory over Bill Johnston.
1970 - The tie-break makes its debut in Grand Slam tennis on the
opening day of the 1970 U.S. Open. A total of 26 tiebreaks (the
VASSS, nine-point sudden death tie-break) are played on the
first day of the tournament with Bob McKinley and Ray Ruffels
both winning matches in fifth-set tie-breaks. Jimmy Connors
plays his first match at the U.S. Open on his 18th birthday,
losing to Mark Cox 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
1971 - Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors win their first U.S. Open
singles matches. Playing in her first U.S. Open, the 16-year-old
Evert records the first of her record 101 U.S. Open match
victories, defeating Edda Buding 6-1, 6-0 in 42 minutes. Playing
on his 19th birthday, Connors comes back from a two-set deficit
to defeat Alex Olmedo 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.
1991 - Jimmy Connors turns 39-years-old and comes back from a
two sets to one and a 2-5 fifth set deficit to defeat Aaron
Krickstein 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 in the round of 16.
September 3rd
1945 - Frank Parker defeats Bill Talbert 14-12, 6-1, 6-2 to
defend his title in the first post-war U.S. Championships.
Parker, a sergeant in the military, flies 9,000 miles from Guam
to compete.
1989 - Chris Evert defeats 15-year-old Monica Seles 6-0, 6-2 for
her 101st and last U.S. Open singles victory.
September 4th
1983 - Sixteen-year-old amateur Aaron Krickstein comes back from
two sets down to upset 29-year-old and number 15 seed Vitas
Gerulaitis 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round.
Krickstein, the reigning USTA national boys' 18 champion, loses
in the round of 16 to Yannick Noah.
1993 - Mats Wilander finally defeats Mikael Pernfors 7-6 (7-3),
3-6, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 in a four-hour-and-one-minute match
that concludes at 2:26 a.m.
September 5th
1920 - Bill Tilden wins the first of his seven singles titles at
the U.S. Championships.
1949 - Pancho Gonzalez wins his second straight U.S. men's
championship by defeating Ted Schroeder, 16-18, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2,
6-4. The total of 67 games still stands as a record in a U.S.
Championship final.
1951 - Maureen Connolly wins the first of her three U.S women's
titles at the age of 16 with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 victory over
Shirley Frey.
1975 - After losing in the women's semifinals to Chris Evert,
18-year-old Martina Navratilova of Czechoslovakia appears at the
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service office in New York
and asks for political asylum.
1979 - Roscoe Tanner fires 11 aces, breaks the net with his
bullet serve and upsets top-seeded Bjorn Borg under the lights
in the men's quarterfinals 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6.
1983 - Number 16 seed Bill Scanlon shocks top-seed John McEnroe
7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in the round of 16.
1987 - John McEnroe defeats Slobodan Zivojinovic in a third
round match which features many McEnroe tirades and chair umpire
Richard Ings giving McEnroe a game penalty. McEnroe is fined
$17,500 and is suspended two months.
1989 - Chris Evert is defeated by Zina Garrison 7-6, 6-2 in
Evert's last U.S. Open match.
1990 - Pete Sampras ends Ivan Lendl's bid for a record
ninth-straight U.S. men's final with a 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2
victory in the quarterfinals.
1996 - Pete Sampras fought off fatigue and illness to outlast
Alex Corretja of Spain, 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) in
an epic quarterfinal match.
September 6th
1975 - Chris Evert defeats Evonne Goolagong 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to win
her first U.S. Open singles title. Manuel Orantes performs one
of the greatest comebacks in tennis history, saving five match
points in defeating Guillermo Vilas 4-6, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4
after trailing two sets to love and 0-5 in the fourth set.
1997 - Venus Williams saved two match points before pulling out
a dramatic 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (9-7) semifinal victory over
Irina Spirlea. The match featured a bumping incident between the
two during a changeover. Spirlea used obscene language in her
post-match press conference concerning Williams and was later
fined by the WTA.
September 7th
1953 - Maureen Connolly becomes the first woman to complete a
Grand Slam as she defeats Doris Hart, 6-2, 6-4.
1969 - Margaret Court defeats Nancy Richey 6-2, 6-2 for the
women's singles title. In the post-match ceremony vice
president Spiro Agnew presents the champions' trophy to Court.
1975 - In one of the biggest upsets in U.S. Open history, Manuel
Orantes upsets number one seeded Jimmy Connors in straight sets
to win the 1975 U.S. Open.
1980 - John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg stage one of the greatest
U.S. Open finals as the 21-year-old McEnroe fends off a Borg
come-back to win his second consecutive title by a 7-6, 6-1,
6-7, 5-7, 6-4 margin.
1985 - Hana Mandlikova wins her only U.S. Open singles crown
defeating Martina Navratilova in the final 7-6, 1-6, 7-6.
1986 - An all-Czech day at the U.S. Open as all four singles
finalists are Czechoslovakian-born. Ivan Lendl, a Czech living
in Greenwich, Connecticut, defeats Miroslav Mecir for the men's
title, while Martina Navratilova, a Czech who became a U.S.
citizen, defeats Helena Sukova for the women's crown.
1991 - Seventeen-year-old Monica Seles defeats 34-year-old
Martina Navratilova to win her first U.S. Open women's singles
title.
1997 - The first two U.S. Open singles finals are played at
Arthur Ashe Stadium. Sixteen-year-old Martina Hingis defeats
17-year-old Venus Williams, 6-0, 6-4, in the youngest Grand Slam
women's final played in the Open Era. On the men's side,
Australia's Patrick Rafter claimed his first Grand Slam title
with a 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win over Britain's Greg Rusedski.
September 8th
1957 - Althea Gibson becomes the first African-American, male or
female, to win a U.S. title she defeats Louise Brough, 6-3, 6-2.
Mal Anderson becomes the first unseeded player to win the U.S.
Nationals by defeating Ashley Cooper.
1968 - Virginia Wade upsets top-seeded Billie Jean King 6-4, 6-4
to win the first U.S. Open women's singles title.
1969 - Rod Laver completes the fourth Grand Slam in tennis
history (his second after his 1962 slam) defeating Tony Roche in
a rain-delayed Monday final 7-9, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.
1973 - Margaret Court wins her final Grand Slam title defeating
Evonne Goolagong in the women's final 7-6, 5-7, 6-2.
1984 - Perhaps the single greatest day in tennis history, as
each of the four matches played on stadium court extends to the
maximum number of sets. Stan Smith defeats John Newcombe in the
men's 35s semifinal, Ivan Lendl beats Pat Cash 3-6, 6-3, 6-4,
6-7, 7-6 in the men's semifinal, Martina Navratilova edges Chris
Evert 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 for the women's title and John McEnroe
defeats Jimmy Connors 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the men's
semifinal. Play begins at 11:07 a.m. and ends at 11:16 p.m.
1985 - Ivan Lendl wins his first of three straight U.S. Open
titles, defeating John McEnroe in the final 7-6, 6-3, 6-4.
1990 - Gabriela Sabatini captures her first Grand Slam singles
title upsetting top-seed Steffi Graf 6-2, 7-6 in the women's
singles final.
1991 - Playing nearly flawless tennis in his first U.S. Open
final, Stefan Edberg wins his first U.S. Open singles title
defeating another first-time U.S. Open finalist Jim Courier,
6-2, 6-4, 6-0.
1996 - Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf win the men's and women's
singles titles in the last finals played at Louis Armstrong
Stadium. Sampras defeated Michael Chang for his fourth U.S.
Open title, and Graf downed Monica Seles for the second straight
year, winning her fifth U.S. Open crown.
September 9th
1956 - Ken Rosewall defeats fellow Australian Lew Hoad, 4-6,
6-2, 6-3, 6-3, to win his first U.S. singles title.
1968 - Arthur Ashe wins the first U.S. Open defeating Tom Okker
in the final 14-12, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Ashe is the first
African-American male to win a Grand Slam tournament.
1974 - Twenty-two-year-old Jimmy Connors needs only 78 minutes
to defeat 39-year-old Ken Rosewall 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 in the most
one-sided final in the history of the U.S. Championships. Billie
Jean King wins her final U.S. Open singles title, defeating
Evonne Goolagong in the final 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
1978 - Chris Evert wins her fourth consecutive U.S. Open title
with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over 16-year-old Pam Shriver.
1979 - John McEnroe defeats Vitas Gerulaitis 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 in an
all-New York U.S. Open men's singles final. Tracy Austin, at
the age of 16 years, eight months and 28 days, becomes the
youngest U.S. Open women's singles champion ending Chris Evert's
31-match win streak at the U.S. Open.
1984 - John McEnroe wins his fourth U.S. Open singles title
defeating Ivan Lendl in the final 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.
1988 - A stomach flu nearly wipes out a full day's schedule on
Stadium Court as Chris Evert and Rick Leach are forced to
default their respective women's singles semifinal and men's
doubles final matches.
1989 - Steffi Graf trails Martina Navratilova by a set and a
service break but fights back to win 10 of the last 12 games of
the match and her second U.S. Open singles title.
1990 - At the age of 19 years and 28 days, Pete Sampras becomes
the youngest U.S. Open men's singles champion with a 6-4, 6-3,
6-2 victory over Andre Agassi.
September 10th
1933 - Fred Perry ends Jack Crawford's Grand Slam bid with a
6-3, 11-13, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory in the men's final.
1962 - Rod Laver completes the first of his two Grand Slams by
defeating Roy Emerson in the final.
1972 - Ilie Nastase trails two sets to one and faces break point
at 1-3 in the fourth set, but comes back to defeat Arthur Ashe
3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 in the men's singles final
1978 - Jimmy Connors becomes the first player to win the U.S.
Open on three different surfaces as he defeats Bjorn Borg 6-4,
6-2, 6-2 in the men's final played on the Deco Turf II courts at
the new USTA National Tennis Center. Connors previously won the
1974 U.S. Open on grass and the 1976 U.S. Open on clay courts.
1983 - Martina Navratilova wins her first U.S. Open women's
singles championship, defeating Chris Evert Lloyd in the final
6-1, 6-3.
1988 - Steffi Graf becomes the third women to complete the Grand
Slam, defeating Gabriela Sabatini in the women's final 6-3, 3-6,
6-1.
1989 - Boris Becker becomes the first German man to win the U.S.
Open, defeating Ivan Lendl in the final 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6.
Lendl appears in his eighth straight U.S. Open final, which ties
him with Bill Tilden for the all-time record.
1994 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario becomes the first Spanish woman
to win the U.S. Open as she defeats Steffi Graf 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 in
the women's singles final.
September 11th
1977 - Guillermo Vilas defeats Jimmy Connors 2-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-0
for the men's singles title in the last U.S. Open match played
at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York.
1982 - Chris Evert wins her sixth and final U.S. Open singles
crown defeating Hana Mandlikova in the final 6-3, 6-1.
1983 - Jimmy Connors wins his second consecutive and fifth
overall singles title at the U.S. Open, defeating Ivan Lendl in
the final 6-3, 6-7, 7-5, 6-0.
1988 - Mats Wilander outlasts Ivan Lendl 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
in four hours and 55 minutes - the longest men's final in U.S.
Open history.
1993 - Steffi Graf wins her third U.S. Open singles title with a
6-3, 6-3 victory over Helena Sukova.
1994 - Andre Agassi becomes the first unseeded player in the
Open era to win the U.S. Open as he defeats number four seed
Michael Stich of Germany 6-1, 7-6, 7-5 in the men's singles
final.
September 12th
1936 - Fred Perry becomes the first foreigner to win threee U.S.
men's singles titles by defeating Don Budge, 2-6, 6-2, 8-6, 1-6,
10-8. Alice Marble ends Helen Jacobs' four-year reign as
women's champion with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory in the final.
1976 - Jimmy Connors wins the second of his five U.S. Open
singles titles defeating first-time finalist Bjorn Borg in the
final 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.
1981 - Tracy Austin wins her second U.S. Open singles title
edging first-time finalist Martina Navratilova in the final 1-6,
7-6, 7-6.
1982 - Jimmy Connors returns to the winners circle at the U.S.
Open for the first time since 1978, defeating Ivan Lendl in the
title match 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
1987 - Martina Navratilova wins her fourth U.S. Open singles
title, defeating Steffi Graf in the final 7-6, 6-1.
1992 - Stefan Edberg and Michael Chang play what is believed to
be the longest match in the history of the U.S. Open. The
number two seed Edberg needs five hours and 26 minutes to defeat
the fourth seeded Chang 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4. Monica Seles
wins her second straight U.S. Open singles title, defeating
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the final.
1993 - Pete Sampras defeats Cedric Pioline 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 to win
his second U.S. Open singles title. Pioline is the first
Frenchman since Henri Cochet in 1932 to reach the singles final
at the U.S. Championships.
September 13th
1970 - Margaret Court defeats Rosie Casals 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to
complete the fifth Grand Slam in the history of tennis.
1970 - Thirty-five-year-old Ken Rosewall wins his second U.S.
Championship - 14 years after he first won the singles title in
1956 - defeating fellow Aussie Tony Roche 2-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3.
The third set features the first tie break in a Grand Slam
singles final. The singles final marks the last time to date
that two Aussie men met in a U.S. Open singles final.
1981 - Bjorn Borg leaves the U.S. Open never to return, losing
to John McEnroe in the men's singles final 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.
The victory was McEnroe's third straight at the U.S. Open.
1992 - Defending U.S. Open champion Stefan Edberg defeats 1990
U.S. Open champion Pete Sampras 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-2 in the first
U.S. men's singles final since 1947 and first in the Open era to
feature the last two singles champions.
September 14th
1929 - Bill Tilden wins the last of his seven U.S. men's titles
by defeating Francis Hunter, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
1987 - Ivan Lendl requires four hoursand 47 minutes to defeat
Mats Wilander 6-7, 6-0, 7-6, 6-4 in a rain-delayed Monday final.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
|
