FULL VERSION 1991 - Seles vs Navratilova - US Open

Thank you for your gracious use of this classic match!

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PertSnergleman's Review:
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The chance for a fifth United States Open women's title for Martina Navratilova passed in the form of small yellow blurs off the oversized racquet of Monica Seles. They moved with the force of express subway trains while Navratilova, from her preferred station at the net, awaited the local.

"She was not only hitting it hard, but she was hitting it accurately," the 34-year-old Navratilova said after losing to an opponent half her age, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 in 1 hour 6 minutes at the National Tennis Center. "I was covering the lines and they still got by me."

There was no question about the legitimacy of her victory yesterday, only an exclamation point of a second set following a classic first-set confrontation between baseliner and serve-and-volleyer, both for the most part executing their game plans.

As Navratilova had struggled her way through the draw, needing three sets to defeat Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and the top-seeded Graf, she appeared more conspicuous than ever in her position alone among the baseliners.

"God, I hope not," she said yesterday when asked if bigger, stronger teen-agers wielding powerful racquets would soon be all that's left. "I'm the last serve-and-volleyer, it seems. But even with the way Monica and Jennifer are hitting the ball, there's just not that much variety. Something needs to be done so that the technology doesn't run away with the game."

Referring to the future, and perhaps lamenting what she'd just experienced, she added, "Maybe if they just narrowed the court . . ."

Navratilova had done well to stave off Seles in the first set as Seles held three break points with Navratilova serving at 3-4 and another in the 10th game at 4-5. She did it with big first serves, which prevented Seles from swinging from her heels. But once into the tie breaker, Seles lifted her service return.

After serving a winner down the middle for 1-0, Seles belted a forehand pass down the line off a first serve, then reached low for another forehand pass, this one cross-court. The tie breaker was gone before Navratilova could regain her balance, and soon, so was the match.

Still reeling from the tie breaker, Navratilova played her sloppiest service game of the match, making unforced errors on all four points and getting broken at love. Still, there was one final chance, as a couple of aggressive Navratilova returns put Seles in a 0-40 hole in the next game. But a backhand carried long, then a forehand approach was struck long and Seles rifled a backhand down the line before another backhand winner and a service winner closed the window of last chance.

Walking off, she smiled slightly and clapped her right hand against her racquet. There was nothing left to do except contemplate her future, while Seles, with so much still to come, took one look back at what might have been.