| U.S. Open |
|---|
| Year-by-year History |
| 1968 |
| Arthur Ashe, a 25-year-old lieutenant in the U.S. Army, defeats Tom Okker in five sets in the men's final to become the first American since 1955 to win the U.S. Open men's singles title. Ashe also becomes the first African-American man to win a Grand Slam singles title. Virginia Wade of Britain knocks off defending champion Billie Jean King in the women's final. |
| 1969 |
| Rod Laver completes his second Grand Slam by defeating fellow Australian Tony Roche in the rain-delayed men's final. The match was pushed back until Monday and a helicopter was brought in to help dry off the court. Margaret Court captured the third of her five women's singles titles and teamed with Marty Riessen to win the mixed doubles crown. |
| 1970 |
| Margaret Court becomes only the second woman to complete the Grand Slam by defeating Rosie Casals in the women's final. Court also won the women's doubles and mixed doubles titles. Ken Rosewall, at the age of 35, wins his second U.S. Open title 14 years after claiming his first. The tournament also marks the Grand Slam debut of the tiebreak and Rosewall wins the first tiebreak in a Grand Slam final in his victory over Tony Roche. |
| 1971 |
| Billie Jean King and Stan Smith give the United States a sweep of the women's and men's singles titles for the first time in 16 years. King's semifinal opponent is 16-year-old American Chris Evert, who makes her U.S. Open debut. Evert will go on to win the U.S. Open six times and make the semifinals each of the next 15 years. Men's top seed John Newcombe is stunned in the first round by Jan Kodes, becoming the first top seed to lose in the opening round since 1928. |
| 1972 |
| Ilie Nastase of Romania battles from a set down to defeat Arthur Ashe in the dramatic five-set men's final and Billie Jean King beats Kerry Melville in straight sets to become the first player in the Open Era to repeat as singles champion at the U.S. Open. |
| 1973 |
| John Newcombe avenges his first-round loss to Jan Kodes two year earlier by defeating Kodes for his his second singles title at the U.S. Championships. Margaret Court outlasts fellow Australian Evonne Goolagong in three sets for her fourth U.S. Championships singles title. Newcombe and Court each receive $25,000 for their victories, marking the first time in tennis history that men and woman players receive equal prize money. |
| 1974 |
| At the age of 22, Jimmy Connors wins the first of his five U.S. Open titles, defeating 39-year-old Ken Rosewall 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 in the most lopsided final in the tournament's history. |
| 1975 |
| Night tennis makes its debut at the U.S. Open, the tournament surface switches to clay and Martina Navratilova, a 18-year-old from Czechoslovakia, announces her defection to the United States. Spaniard Manuel Orantes rallies from 0-5 down in the fourth set and withholds five match points to defeat Guillermo Vilas in the semifinals and comes back to beat Jimmy Connors in the final the following day. |
| 1976 |
| Americans Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert celebrate the bicentennial by claiming their second singles titles. In the finals, Connors survives a memorable third-set marathon and defeats Bjorn Borg in four sets and Evert tops Evonne Goolagong for the second straight year. |
| 1977 |
| John McEnroe and Tracy Austin make their U.S. Open debuts and the U.S. Open bids farewell to the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills. McEnroe loses to Manuel Orantes in the fourth round and Austin upsets Sue Barker en route to the quarterfinals. Guillermo Vilas knocks off Jimmy Connors in the men's inal, while Chris Evert notches her third straight title with a victory over Wendy Turnbull. |
| 1978 |
| The U.S. Open moves to the newly constructed National Tennis Center and the surface switches from clay to hard courts. |
| 1979 |
| At the age of 16 years, eight months and 28 days, Tracy Austin defeats four-time defending champion Chris Evert to become the youngest champion in U.S. Open history. Four American men reach the semifinals and two New Yorkers, John McEnroe and Vitas Gerulaitis, advance to the final. McEnroe claims his first Grand Slam title and the first of his four U.S. Open titles with a straight-set victory. |
| 1980 |
| John McEnroe wins his second straight U.S. Open title by defeating Bjorn Borg in a classic five-set final. Chris Evert captures the women's title for the fifth time in six years despite taking three months off earlier in the year. Fifteen-year-old Andrea Jaeger becomes the youngest semifinalist in U.S. Open history. |
| 1981 |
| John McEnroe makes it three in a row, a feat last achieved by Bill Tilden in 1920-25, by beating Bjorn Borg in the Swede's final Grand Slam appearance. McEnroe also teams with Peter Fleming to win the men's doubles title for the second time. Martina Navratilova, appearing in her first U.S. Open final, double-faults on match point in the third set tiebreak to give Tracy Austin her second U.S. Open title. |
| 1982 |
| Ivan Lendl ends John McEnroe's 26-match winning streak at the U.S. Open in the semifinals, but falls to Jimmy Connors in the final. Chris Evert wins her sixth and final U.S. Open title with a straight sets victory over Hana Mandlikova. Billie Jean King makes her final singles appearance at the U.S. Open, losing to Susan Mascarin in the opening round. |
| 1983 |
| Jimmy Connors becomes the first male player to win five U.S. Open titles since Bill Tilden won six straight from 1920-1925. Connors records the historic victory with a four-set win over Ivan Lendl. Martina Navratilova, playing in her 11th U.S. Open, earns her first title by defeating Chris Evert in straight sets. |
| 1984 |
| On Saturday, September 8th, in one of the greatest single-day sessions ever, Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe win five-set semifinals and Martina Navratilova claims her second straight title with a three-set victory over Chris Evert. Lendl holds off Pat Cash in an afternoon match and McEnroe eliminates Jimmy Connors in a match that ends at 11:13 p.m. |
| 1985 |
| Ivan Lendl, playing in his fourth straight U.S. Open final, wins the men's title for the first time with a straight-set victory over John McEnroe in a rematch of the 1984 final. Two-time champion Martina Navratilova falls to Hana Mandlikova in the women's final. |
| 1986 |
| Americans John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, winners of nine U.S. Open singles titles, are eliminated early and men's and women's finals feature four players born in Czechoslovakia. McEnroe falls to Paul Annacone in the opening round and Connors is upset by Todd Witsken in the third round. Ivan Lendl defeats Miroslav Mecir for his second straight title and Martina Navratilova captures her third U.S. Open crown by defeating Helena Sukova. |
| 1987 |
| Martina Navratilova celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first women's championships by sweeping all three titles. She defeats Steffi Graf for her second straight singles title, wins the women's doubles with Pam Shriver and teams with Emilio Sanchez to capture the mixed doubles crown. Ivan Lendl three-peats as the men's champion, defeating Mats Wilander in a final pushed back to Monday due to rain. |
| 1988 |
| Steffi Graf completes the first Grand Slam in tennis since Margaret Court in 1970 by beating Gabriela Sabatini in the women's final. Mats Wilander avenges a loss to Ivan Lendl in the 1987 final by dethroning the three-time champion in a four hour and 55 minute final -- the longest final in U.S. Open history. |
| 1989 |
| Chris Evert's U.S. Open career comes to an end with a quarterfinal loss to Zina Garrison. Evert's final victory at the Open is a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Monica Seles. Steffi Graf defeats Martina Navratilova for her second straight women's singles title and fellow German Boris Becker captures the men's title. |
| 1990 |
| Pete Sampras becomes the youngest U.S. Open men's singles champion and Gabriela Sabatini wins her first Grand Slam title. At the age of 19 years and 28 days, Sampras defeats Andre Agassi in set straights in the first All-American final since 1979. Seeded 12th, Sampras is the lowest men's seed to win the men's title in the Open Era. |
| 1991 |
| At the age of 39, wildcard entry Jimmy Connors stages a remarkable run to the semifinals. Connors rallies from two sets down to defeat Patrick McEnroe in a four-hour, 35-minute marathon in the first round and comes back from a two sets to one deficit to knock off Aaron Krickstein in the fourth round. |
| 1992 |
| Stefan Edberg rallies from a service break down in the fifth set in consecutive matches against Richard Krajicek, Ivan Lendl and Michael Chang and defeats Pete Sampras in the final for his second straight U.S. Open title. The Edberg-Chang match lasts five hours and 26 minutes and is believed to be the longest match in the tournament's history. |
| 1993 |
| Pete Sampras wins his second U.S. Open title and Steffi Graf notches her third in relatively easy fashion. Sampras sweeps Cedric Pioline, the first Frenchman to make the U.S. Open final since Henri Cochet in 1932, and Graf does the same to Helena Sukova, denying Sukova a rare U.S. Open "triple". Sukova teams with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario to win the women's doubles title and with Todd Woodbridge to capture the mixed doubles crown. |
| 1994 |
| Andre Agassi, ranked 20th in the world entering the tournament, defeats five seeded players en route to becoming the first unseeded player in the Open Era to win the men's title. |
| 1995 |
| Monica Seles advances to the women's final in her second tournament since returning from a 2 1/2 year absence, but is defeated by Steffi Graf, who earns her fourth U.S. Open title. Graf becomes the first player, male or female, to win each of the four Grand Slam events at least four times. Pete Sampras defeats defending champion and top seed Andre Agassi for his third U.S. Open title. Boris Becker and Jim Courier join Sampras and Agassi in the semifinals, marking the first time ever that four former or current number one players in the world reach the semis of the U.S. Open. |
| 1996 |
| Pete Sampras captured his fourth U.S. Open title and eighth career Grand Slam title, defeating Michael Chang in the final. The win was even more special as it would have been the 45th birthday of his coach Tim Gullikson, who died four months earlier of brain cancer. Steffi Graf earned her fifth U.S. Open title by defeating Monica Seles for the second straight year. The men's and women's singles finals were the last to be played at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Two-time champion Stefan Edberg reached the quarterfinals in his last U.S. Open appearance. |
| 1997 |
| The new Arthur Ashe Stadium saw two new U.S. Open singles champions crowned. Sixteen-year-old Martina Hingis defeated 17-year-old Venus Williams in the youngest Grand Slam women's final in the Open Era. Hingis became the second-youngest U.S. Open women's champion with her victory. Williams was the first unseeded female to reach the U.S. Open final since Pam Shriver in 1978 and the first African-American to play in a U.S. Open final since Ashe in 1972. She also was the first African-American female to reach the women's singles final since Althea Gibson in 1958. Williams earned a berth in the final by fighting off two match points in the third set to defeat Irina Spirlea, a match that featured a memorable bumping incident during a changeover. Patrick Rafter became the first Australian male to win the U.S. Open since John Newcombe in 1973 by defeating Greg Rusedski, the first Brit to play in a U.S. Open men's final since Fred Perry in 1934. His performance gave Britain something to cheer about as Princess Diana died during the tournament. |
| 1998 |
| American Lindsay Davenport wins her first Grand Slam singles title as she defeats defending champion Martina Hingis, 6-3, 7-5 in the women's final. Davenport becomes the first American-born woman to win the U.S. Open since Chris Evert won the last of her six singles titles in 1982. Davenport does not lose a set en route to the title. Patrick Rafter sucessfully defends his men's singles title as he defeats countryman Mark Philippoussis, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0, in the first all-Aussie men's final since Ken Rosewall defeated Tony Roche in 1970. Rafter almost becomes the first defending U.S. Open champion to be eliminated in the first round as he rallies from a two-set deficit to defeat Hicham Arazi, 6-7, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the semifinals, Rafter thwarts Pete Sampras' attempt to tie Roy Emerson's all-time record of 12 Grand Slam singles titles. |
| 1999 |
| Serena Williams becomes only the second African-American female, joining 1957-58 champion Althea Gibson, to win the U.S. Open singles title by defeating Martina Hingis, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), in the final. Hingis prevented an all-Williams sister singles final by beating Venus Williams, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in the semifinals. Venus and Serena Williams teamed up to become the first sisters to win the U.S. Open doubles title since Grace and Ellen Roosevelt in 1890. Andre Agassi captured his second U.S. Open men's singles title by outlasting fellow American Todd Martin, 6-4, |
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