As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the US Open, we look back at the 50 champions who have left an indelible mark on this inimitable event.
World No. 1 and two-time defending US Open champion Steffi Graf was standing well inside the baseline when she took a healthy rip at Gabriela Sabatini’s floated serve.
When her fierce cross-court return clipped the net cord with authority and popped straight up in the air, the only question was which way Sabatini was going to place the winner that would avenge her final defeat to the German two years earlier.
Leading by a set and 6-4 in the tiebreak, Sabatini chose to thump her first championship point down the line, a shot maybe too close for comfort for some of her supporters. But the Argentine never had any doubt whether she’d made the pass, and she was already leaping in the air as Graf, flat-footed for one of the few times in the match, stared down at the line, waiting – hoping – for an out call that never came.
The forehand winner gave Sabatini a 6-2, 7-6 victory and saw her name etched into the record books. It was the sweetest of revenge for a pair of tough three-set losses to Graf over the past two years in New York City, and it would turn out to be Sabatini’s first, and only, Grand Slam singles title.
The 20-year-old rolled through the first week in the Big Apple, dropping a total of 13 games over four matches against Kathy Jordan, Isabelle Demongeot, Sabine Appelmans and Helena Sukova. The Argentine toppled Leila Meskhi of Georgia in the quarterfinals before fighting past American Mary Joe Fernandez, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, in one of the matches of the tournament.
Awaiting Sabatini in the final was familiar foe Graf, against whom she played a total of 40 times, including a dozen on the Grand Slam stage over the course of her career. Graf had won the six previous matches at majors against Sabatini, as well as 18 of 21 total contests between the pair, when they met in New York in 1990.
The German had defeated Sabatini in the 1988 US Open final and then rallied from a set down to defeat her in the semifinals a year later. But with a more aggressive game built around attacking the net more, there was no stopping Sabatini this time around, as she matched Graf in a one-handed backhand masterclass.
After breaking Graf three times in the first set, Sabatini was primed to lift the trophy when she served for the title at 5-4. Graf broke back but squandered two set points that would have sent the final to a decider, and instead Sabatini clinched victory in a thrilling tiebreak.
Graf led 3-1 before Sabatini won four consecutive points to sneak ahead 5-3. A lunging backhand volley brought up two match points, but Sabatini needed just one, pouncing on Graf’s redirected return and firing a forehand from inside the doubles alley to seal a memorable one-hour, 39-minute win.
“It’s very hard for me to talk right now,” Sabatini said during the trophy ceremony. “I just can’t believe that I won this tournament. I’ve been dreaming a lot to win it, and I can’t believe this came true today."
Sabatini went on to reach one more major final, at Wimbledon the following summer, despite nine semifinal appearances over the next five years. She was elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006, the owner of 27 career singles titles, a Wimbledon doubles trophy and an Olympic silver medal.
50 Fact: 1990 marked the first time since 1966 that eight different men and women won the four majors. Sabatini joined Graf, Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova as the women’s champions, while Ivan Lendl, Andres Gomez, Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras won the men’s trophies.
