Return Winners: The 1998 WTA US Open final

Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis, the defending champion, met for the 1998 US Open title.

After posting one of the best seasons in WTA history in 1997, Hingis’ rivals began to make some headway in her reign in 1998. Leading the charge was the 1996 Olympic champion, Davenport, who had won three straight summer hard-court tournaments.

Her streak was stopped in the semifinals in New Haven, Conn., but she resumed her winning ways at the year’s last major, the US Open. The American reached her first Grand Slam final without the loss of a set to set up a No. 1 vs. No. 2 encounter against Hingis, the defending champion.

Despite being several years younger, Hingis had the edge when it came to experience in Grand Slam championship as she played in her fifth in two years. However, it was Davenport who gained an early edge as she broke the world No. 1’s serve early and consolidated to take a 3-1 lead. Davenport kept up the pressure on Hingis’ serve throughout the first set and would go on to take the opener 6-3.

In the second, it was more of the same as Davenport’s recently honed strategy of overpowering Hingis rather than trying to out-rally her continued to work in her favor. In the sixth game, Davenport broke Hingis’ serve for a 4-2 lead. The Swiss teen had a momentary recovery, but in the end, Davenport would go on to take the second 7-5 for her first major title. She also became the first woman to win the girls’ and women’s title, having prevailed in the junior event in 1992.

2

A year after winning five titles on hard courts going into the US Open, Hingis only won two leading up to the 1998 edition of the tournament: the Australian Open and Indian Wells.

5

The most games any player took from Davenport this tournament was the five Hingis won in the second set of the final.

'82

The last year an American-born woman won the US Open was 1982, when Chris Evert triumphed.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias