This week we’ll be looking back at five of the most unforgettable moments in the history of the WTA Finals, with the 2022 edition of the season-ending championships taking place in Fort Worth, Texas next week.
First up, a marathon at Madison Square Garden:
Seles outlasts Sabatini in historic five-set final in 1990
There were storylines aplenty in the 1990 final of the WTA Finals—then called the WTA Championships—as 16-year-old Monica Seles, who had won her first Grand Slam title earlier that year at Roland Garros, faced 20-year-old Gabriela Sabatini, who also won her first Grand Slam title earlier that year at the US Open.
The two ended up playing the first five-set women’s match in 89 years, since the U.S. Nationals in 1901, with Sabatini building a two-sets-to-one lead but Seles eventually battling back to prevail, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, wrapping it up after three hours and 47 minutes with one last crosscourt backhand winner.
“It was an unbelievable match. We both played great,” Seles said afterwards.
“Women’s tennis is at its best right now.”
At 16 years and 11 months, Seles is still to this day the youngest player ever to win the WTA Finals, in either singles or doubles.