Highlights of today’s sports history:
In 1995, Cal Ripken played in his 2,131st consecutive major league game, surpassing Lou Gehrig’s 56-year-old record. Ripken received a 22-minute standing ovation and then hit a walk-off home run in Baltimore’s 4-2 victory over California.
As of this date:
1920 — Jack Dempsey knocks out Billy Miske in the third round to retain the world heavyweight title. This is the first radio broadcast of a boxing match.
1920 — Bill Tilden wins his first of seven U.S. Open men’s singles titles, defeating Bill Johnston, 6-1, 1-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York.
1941 — Bobby Riggs defeats Frank Kovacs in four sets to win the men’s title at the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association Championships. Sarah Palfrey Cooke wins the women’s title with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Pauline Betz.
1948 — The United States sweeps Australia 5-0 to retain the Davis Cup title.
1975 — Chris Evert wins her first of six US Open singles titles, defeating Evonne Goolagong 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. In the men’s semifinals, Manuel Orantes pulls off one of the greatest comebacks in tennis history, saving five match points to defeat Guillermo Vilas 4-6, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 after trailing two sets to zero and 0-5 in the fourth set.
1980 — Chris Evert Lloyd defeats Hana Mandlikova of Czechoslovakia to win her fifth U.S. Open singles title in the last six years.
1980 — John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors meet in what is perhaps their greatest match of the U.S. Open. McEnroe defeats Connors in the semifinals, 6-4, 5-7, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in front of a packed Louis Armstrong Stadium.
1991 — Two teenage girls play tennis at a level beyond their age in a women’s semifinal match at the U.S. Open. Monica Seles, 17, defeats Jennifer Capriati, 15, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (3) to advance to her first U.S. Open final.
1992 — Algerian Noureddine Morceli breaks the world record in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:28.86 at an international track and field meeting in Rieti, Italy. Morceli breaks the record of 3:29.46 set by Moroccan Said Aouita in 1985.
1993 — Helena Sukova of the Czech Republic defeats Martina Navratilova 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. Navratilova’s loss leaves the United States without a women’s quarterfinal for the first time in the tournament’s history, dating back to 1887.
1996 — Baltimore Orioles Eddie Murray hits his 500th career home run.
2003 — At the US Open, No. 2 Justine Henin-Hardenne wins the all-Belgian women’s singles final, defeating No. 1 Kim Clijsters, 7-5, 6-1.
2008 — US Open women’s tennis: Serena Williams wins her third US Open title; defeats Serbian Jelena Janković 6-4, 7-5.
2017 — CoCo Vandeweghe becomes the third American to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Open, defeating top-seeded Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (4), 6-3. Madison Keys completes the women’s sweep for the Americans, giving the host nation all four spots in the U.S. Open semifinals for the first time in 36 years. Keys, seeded No. 15, takes 69 minutes to defeat No. 418 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-3, 6-3. The Americans haven’t had all four semifinalists at the U.S. Open since 1981, when Tracy Austin beat Martina Navratilova for the title. Chris Evert and Barbara Potter have also reached the semifinals.
2017 — FIFA orders a replay of the World Cup qualifier between South Africa and Senegal after the referee was found guilty of match manipulation and banned for life. South Africa beat Senegal 2-1 in the qualifier last November, thanks to a penalty awarded by Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey for a non-existent handball.
2020 — World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is sensationally disqualified in the fourth round of the US Open after hitting a ball in frustration, hitting a line judge; he was trailing 5-6 to Pablo Carreño Busta in the first set.
