Sept. 17, 1939

Earlier in the summer, Bobby Riggs and Alice Marble won the Wimbledon singles championships. Today at Forest Hills, they win the most significant tournament on this side of the Atlantic Ocean by taking the U.S. Nationals at Forest Hills.

They do it in contrasting styles. Riggs has an easy time in winning his first of two U.S. titles as he needs only 56 minutes to crush 19-year-old Welby Van Horn, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. Riggs, who lost only two sets in the entire tournament, serves nine aces against the teenager, only the second unseeded player to reach the final.

Marble ended Helen Jacobs' four-year reign as U.S. champion in 1936 when she won in three sets. She needs to go three sets again to beat Jacobs. Overcoming gusty winds as well as the gutsy Jacobs, Marble overcomes a 3-1 deficit in the deciding set to win, 6-0, 8-10, 6-4. It is Marble's third U.S. title in four years.