AP Sportlight

Published July 5, 2014 12:15PM (EDT)

July 6

1887 — Lottie Dod of Britain, 15, becomes the youngest woman to win the women's singles championship at Wimbledon, defeating Blanch Bingley 6-2, 6-0.

1933 — The first major league All-Star game is played at Comiskey Park, Chicago. The American League beats the National League 4-2 on Babe Ruth's two-run homer.

1957 — Althea Gibson becomes the first black to win a title at the All England Lawn Tennis Club by beating Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2 in the women's singles title match.

1968 — Billie Jean King wins her third consecutive women's singles title at Wimbledon by beating Australia's Judy Tegart 9-7, 7-5.

1975 — Ruffian, an undefeated filly, and Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure compete in a match race. Ruffian, racing on the lead, sustains a severe leg injury and is pulled up by jockey Jacinto Vasquez. She is humanely destroyed the following day.

1994 — Leroy Burrell breaks the world record in the 100 meters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Burrell's time of 9.85 seconds betters Carl Lewis' 9.86 clocking set in the 1991 World Championships.

1995 — Eric Lindros of the Philadelphia Flyers wins the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player.

1996 — Steffi Graf beats Spain's Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 6-3, 7-5 in the Wimbledon final for the German star's 20th Grand Slam title and 100th tournament victory.

1997 — Pete Sampras wins the fourth Wimbledon title and 10th Grand Slam title of his career, easily defeating Frenchmen Cedric Pioline 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

1998 — Twenty-year-old Se Ri Pak becomes the youngest U.S. Women's Open champion after hitting an 18-foot birdie on the 20th extra hole to beat amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn in the longest Women's Open in history.

2000 — Venus Williams beats her younger sister Serena 6-2, 7-6 (3) to reach the Wimbledon final. Their singles match is the first between sisters in a Grand Slam semifinal.

2008 — Rafael Nadal ends Roger Federer's bid to become the first man since the 1880s to win a sixth consecutive championship at the All England Club. Two points from victory, the No. 1-ranked Federer succumbs to No. 2 Nadal 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7 in a 4-hour, 48-minute test of wills that's the longest men's final in Wimbledon history — and quite possibly the greatest.

2011 — Caster Semenya is cleared to return to track by the sport's governing body, ending an 11-month layoff while she underwent gender tests after becoming the 800-meter world champion. Semenya is allowed to keep running as a woman, although it is unclear if she has had any medical procedure or treatment during her time away.

2012 — Andy Murray reaches the Wimbledon final for the first time, beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Murray becomes the first British man to play in the Wimbledon final since Bunny Austin in 1938.

2013 — Marion Bartoli wins her first major title, defeating Sabine Lisicki 6-1, 6-4 in the Wimbledon final. Twin brothers Mike and Bob Bryan capture their fourth straight major with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo. The Americans become the first men's team in Open-era tennis to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.

2013 — Jimmie Johnson becomes the first driver in 31 years to sweep Daytona International Speedway. The Daytona 500 winner is the first driver since Bobby Allison in 1982, and the fifth overall, to win both races in a season at Daytona.


By Compiled By Paul Montella



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