1991 - Steffi Graf guaranteed an all-German singles sweep at this year’s Wimbledon tennis championships when she beat Argentine Gabriela Sabatini in a fluctuating women’s final. It was the longest women’s singles final for 21 years. Graf, the top seed, won 6-4, 3-6, 8-6 to claim her third Wimbledon title in four years. Second seed Sabatini, seeking to become the first Argentine champion at Wimbledon, had only herself to blame after twice serving for the match in the third set. But Graf, conquering frequent lapses in confidence, broke back both times and finally clinched victory after two hours and seven minutes on Centre Court. Graf picked up a winning cheque for £216,000 (Dh1.28 million) but her overriding emotion afterwards seemed to be one of relief.
Other important events
1785 - The dollar is unanimously chosen as the monetary unit for the United States.
1907 - The world’s first purpose-built motor-racing track opens at Brooklands, Surrey.
1917 - Arab forces led by T.E. Lawrence capture the port of Aqaba from the Turks during the First World War.
1923 - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed.
1928 - The first all-talking motion picture, The Lights of New York, is shown in New York City.
1957 - Althea Gibson becomes the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title.
1964 - Nyasaland Protectorate, renamed Malawi, becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
1971 - Kamuzu Banda declares himself president for life in Malawi.
1984 - Eight Sikh hijackers of an Indian airliner free all 256 hostages, ending a 20-hour drama.
1986 - Two Australians are hanged in Malaysia for drug trafficking, the first Westerners executed under Malaysia’s strict drug laws.
1987 - Former Hungarian leader Janos Kadar dies at the age of 77.
1988 - A Pakistan air force jet fighter plane crashes into a factory and explodes in a busy area of Karachi, killing 14 people.
1990 - Nato allies pledge to reduce both nuclear and conventional forces in Europe.
1992 - French First Lady Danielle Mitterrand narrowly escapes death as a car bomb explodes near her motorcade in Iraq.
1995 - Floods cut through some of southern China’s poorest, most isolated areas, raising the death toll to near 600.
1998 - The new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok begins operating.
2001 - Ex-FBI agent Robert Hanssen pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia.
2002 - Afghan vice-president Haji Abdul Qadeer is assassinated.
2006 - India and China reopen a famed Silk Road pass in the Himalayas.
2008 - The UAE writes off all the debts owed by Iraq as a sign of brotherhood.
2014 - Britain’s Lewis Hamilton win the British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuits.
