HILTON HEAD, SC, USA - The Family Circle Cup is one of the most treasured tournaments in WTA history - it's as old as the WTA, after all, its first edition coming the year the WTA was formed in 1973.
And one of the most memorable finals at the green clay court event - now the only green court event left on the WTA calendar - came in 1997, a thriller between Martina Hingis and Monica Seles.
Hingis came in on a big head of steam, a flawless 30-0 record on the year and fresh off becoming the youngest World No.1 in tennis history - she had also owned Seles in their only two previous meetings, beating her at Oakland in 1996, 6-2, 6-0, and at Miami a week earlier, 6-2, 6-1. Her ability to take Seles' huge blasts early and redirect them into the corners at will made it, until then, a mismatch.
Key words: until then. Seles, a three-time French Open champion and a natural on clay, raced out to a 5-0 lead in just 14 minutes, a lopsided start that inspired Hingis to comment afterwards, "I was just hoping she didn't do the same score to me as I did to her. I liked last week in Miami a lot better."
Hingis would indeed work her way back into the match, losing that first set but winning the second and looking headed for victory in the third, until another surge from her opponent - Seles clawed her way into a third set tie-break, even going up 5-3, before Hingis rebounded to win, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5).
"If you are 5-3 down in the tie-breaker and you know you have to play against the wind, you just try to make her do the mistakes," Hingis told reporters afterwards. "I just fought back and tried to move her around and make her tired. She just played much better today - much more clever this time."
"I just wanted to go out there and take it a point at a time and go for my shots," Seles said after the match. "I had some great points, and it was a great match, and it was a lot of fun to play. I really think I played more my game a little bit and attacked more, which in the past I wasn't doing enough."
Hingis would emerge from the Family Circle Cup 31-0 on the year and extended that perfect start to 37-0 with six more wins at Roland Garros, including another three set nail-biter against Seles in the semifinals. The run would finally end in the French Open final to inspired Croat Iva Majoli.
Here are a few throwbacks to Sunday, April 6, 1997:
No.1 song on Billboard Hot 100 singles: Can't Nobody Hold Me Down by Puff Daddy & Ma$e
No.1 album on Billboard 200 albums: Nine Lives by Aerosmith
No.1 movie at US Box Office: Liar Liar starring Jim Carrey
No.1 men's tennis player: Pete Sampras
No.1 women's tennis player: Martina Hingis
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