• September 11 down the years

Serena strikes for the first time

Serena Williams beat her sister to the punch © Getty Images

Enlarge

1999
The first Grand Slam singles title won by one of the Williams sisters. Venus had reached the final of the US Open in 1997 ( September 7) but lost to Martina Hingis. Today Serena took revenge. Like Venus two years earlier, she was only 17 - but already strong enough to pound away at Hingis and win in straight sets, the second on a tiebreak.

On the same day in 1994, Andre Agassi also won the US Open. Nothing startling in that, except that he was unseeded at the time. After wrist surgery the year before, he'd lost in the first week at the French Open and Wimbledon. But here in New York he beat five seeded players in a row, outlasting that great little terrier Michael Chang in five sets and meeting former Wimbledon champion Michael Stich in the final. Stich was a top serve-volleyer and the courts were fast. But Agassi liked nothing better than returning big serves with interest. Witness his Wimbledon victory over Goran Ivanisevic ( July 5, 1992 ). Today he won the first set 6-1. Stich took some pace off his first serve in the second set, to give him more time to get to the net, but he lost a close tiebreak and he couldn't do anything on Agassi's serve. The third set was also tight, but Agassi hit Stich on the forearm with a sledgehammer backhand before winning it 7-5. He was US champion again five years later ( September 12).

2005
The last day of these judo World Championships. Among the winners: Britain's Craig Fallon in the lightweight division. A win over Egusa Tatsuaki of Japan put him in the semi-final, where he beat Salamat Utarbeyev of Kazakhstan to set up a final with Austria's Ludwig Paischer. Fallon had won silver in the last World Championships two years earlier. Here he came through a tight and nervy Final to beat Paischer by yuko, worth five points. The Austrian had his revenge at the 2008 Olympics by beating Fallon in the second round. Here in Cairo, there was almost another gold for Britain when Karina Bryant faced Japan's Midori Shintani in the battle of the big girls, the Final of the women's Open class. Bryant held Shintani down to the point where she turned purple, but the Japanese girl escaped, scored a yuko, then won on ippon when Bryant had to chase the game near the end.

2000
American Haig 'Hal' Prieste flew into Sydney to return the Olympic flag he'd purloined in 1920, when he won a bronze medal for high diving. The restored banner was taken to the Olympic museum in Lausanne. His conscience salved, Prieste died the following April. He was 103 years old.

1997
The night British boxer Robin Reid was hospitalised - after winning a fight. At the Kingsway Leisure Centre in Widnes, he made the third defence of the WBC super-middleweight title he won the year before. Hacine Cherifi of France was the European middleweight champion. He came into the ring with a ponytail and much greater durability than anyone expected. Reid won a split decision but he was so severely dehydrated he had to be given oxygen after the fight. He lost the world title in his next defence ( December 19).

1978
Ronnie Peterson died the day after the Italian Grand Prix. Before the race, he'd survived a high-speed crash during a test run. During it, he was involved in a multiple pile-up at the start. Vittorio Brambilla lost consciousness as his car caught fire, and Hans Stuck was knocked out by a flying wheel. Peterson was dragged out of his burning Lotus and taken to hospital. He was the latest of many drivers killed during the Italian Grand Prix, which was the fastest on the calendar. Wolfgang von Trips had a fatal crash there in 1961 and Jochen Rindt died in 1970. Peterson was the fastest driver of his generation but followed team orders at Lotus that year, allowing Mario Andretti to win the world title.

1966
British motorcycling legend Mike Hailwood won a World Championship race for the 19th time that season, a record that's unapproachable nowadays. To win so many, Hailwood had to compete in more than one class. At the Italian Grand Prix meeting today, he won a 250cc race for the 10th time that year. He was world champion in that class as well as 350cc and finished a close second to Giacomo Agostini in the 500. Ago won two races at Monza today and equalled Hailwood's 19 wins in 1970.

1890
The first English golfer and first amateur to win the British Open - after it had been going for 30 years. It was held over only two rounds in those days, both on the same day, and today at Prestwick John Ball junior scored two 82s to finish three shots clear of Willie Fernie and Archie Simpson. The English were coming, but not exactly mob-handed: 31 of them took part, and Ball was the only one to finish both rounds! He did the double that year with the second of his eight wins in the British Amateur Championship, still easily the record.

1993
Chinese runner Qu Junxia set a 1500-metre world record that still stands. In Beijing three days before, another of the Chinese women athletes trained by controversial coach Ma Junren had done the same in the 10,000 metres. Now Qu ran 3:50.46 in the same city, two seconds faster than the 13-year-old record set by Soviet runner Tatyana Kazankina.

1982
In rugby union, All Black full-back Alan Hewson scored in all four ways against Australia. Slim and slight, not much of a tackler or good under a high ball, he was a genuine points machine. Today in Auckland, he converted both of New Zealand's tries, scored one himself, landed a drop goal, and kicked five penalties. At the time, Hewson's 26 points (worth 27 today) were a record between major rugby countries. His opposite number, big Roger Gould, scored in three ways for Australia, including their only try, but they lost 33-18.

2010
England sealed a bronze medal, their best result in a hockey World Cup, with a 2-0 win over rivals Germany.

© ESPN EMEA LTD