Women will play a best-of-5 sets final at the 1995 Australian Open tennis championships.
The season-ending Virginia Slims Championship in New York has been the only professional women's tournament to feature a best-of-5 final, but only one match has actually gone five sets. Monica Seles won the 1990 Slims Championships by defeating Gabriela Sabatini 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2."We are very proud to be at the vanguard of change," Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard said today. "There has been a lot of interest in a five-set women's final for some time. Given the athleticism and professionalism of the elite women's players, the time is right."
While the final will be best-of-5, the other women's matches will remain best-of-3 sets.
Steffi Graf beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 6-0, 6-2 in the Australian Open women's final in January.
Pollard and Paul McNamee, the Australian Open's new tournament director, also said there will be a different second-week schedule, with men and women playing each day.