The 9 greatest women’s H2H rivalries in Open Era: Evert v Navratilova, Graf v Sabatini, Graf v Sanchez Vicario
Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova enjoyed an iconic rivalry in women’s tennis with many believing it is the greatest not only in tennis but across all sports.
For context, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal played their 60th top-level match recently yet Evert and Navratilova met in 60 finals – that is not a mistake – during their career.
But while the two have played the most matches in the Open Era, there have been several other brilliant rivalries in women’s tennis since the sport turned professional in 1968.
Most of the prolific rivalries date back to the 70s, 80s and 90s. In terms of most recent rivalries for matches played, Serena and Venus Williams contested 31 matches with Serena winning the H2H 19–12. Serena and Maria Sharapova played 22 matches, but it was a dominant outcome for the American as she won 20 matches.
The 9 most prolific women’s H2H rivalries in Open Era:
9. Martina Navratilova and Wendy Turnbull – 34 matches
Wendy Turnbull reached a career-high of No 5 in the rankings, but unfortunately she competed in an era that was dominated by Navratilova and Evert.
Of the 34 matches she played against Navratilova, she won only five while her H2H against Evert was 21-1. The American also finished runner-up in three Grand Slams finals – two against Evert.
=7. Steffi Graf and Aranxta Sanchez Vicario – 36 matches
Steffi Graf and Aranxta Sanchez Vicario played in seven Grand Slam finals and the German won five of them, including four in a row as Graf won back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles in 1995 and 1996 with the Spaniard finishing runner-up on all four occasions.
Graf won the first four encounters and ended up dominating the head-to-head 28–8. In total, Graf won 19 of the 25 finals that they played.
=7. Hana Mandlikova and Martina Navratilova – 36 matches
Yet another rivalry that Navratilova was in charge of as she finished with a 7–29 record against Hana Mandlikova.
The Czechoslovakia-born Mandlikova won four Grand Slams and two of those finals were against Navratilova. They contested 12 finals with the American winning nine of them, but Mandlikova got the two big ones – at the 1985 US Open and the 1987 Australian Open, while Navratilova won Wimbledon in 1986.
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6. Chris Evert v Evonne Goolagong – 39 matches
Chris Evert and Evonne Goolagong squared off in five Grand Slam finals and the American edged it 3-2 while she won their H2H more comfortably with a 26–13 score. Goolagong, though, won both their season-ending finals in 1974 and 1976.
Their first-ever meeting was at Indianapolis in 1972 with Evert winning two sets while she also won the final four encounters – including their last-ever match at the 1983 French Open.
=4. Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini – 40 matches
One of the great things about the Steffi Graf-Gabriela Sabatini rivalry is the fact that they also teamed up in doubles and won the 1988 Wimbledon women’s doubles title.
In singles, they competed from 1985 to 1995 and Graf won the H2H 29–11. She was 11-1 at Grand Slams, but that one defeat did come in a major final as Sabatini won her only Slam with victory over the German in the 1990 US Open final.
The German won the first 11 matches while Sabatini’s best run came in 1991-92 when she won five in a row, but Graf finished eight consecutive wins.
=4. Evonne Goolagong v Virginia Wade – 40 matches
All-time great Goolagong had the upper hand in the head-to-head against Virginia Wade as she won 30 of the 40 matches.
Interestingly, they met in only one Grand Slam final and that was won by Wade as the Brit defeated her great rival in the 1972 Australian Open final.
3. Martina Navratilova v Pam Shriver – 43 matches
Their rivalry started in 1978 and their last-ever encounter came in San Antonio in 1992. Navratilova won an incredible 40 (3%) of their matches, including their eight finals.
Shriver’s only three wins came at the 1982 US Open, in Sydney in 1982 and the 1978 US Open.
But Shriver did have a lot of doubles success alongside Navratilova as they formed a formidable partnership, winning an incredible 20 Grand Slam titles.
2. Chris Evert v Virginia Wade – 46 matches
Another rivarly that was dominated by Chris Evert as she won the head-to-head 40–6. Evert appeared in 34 Grand Slam finals, but none of them were against Wade, who reached three major finals.
They met in 13 finals in total with Evert winning 11 of them.
1. Chris Evert v Martina Navratilova – 80
One of the truly great sporting rivalries as they met an incredible 80 times with 60 of those matches coming in finals.
The head-to-head was pretty even with Navratilova edging it 43-37 while she also won 10 of their 14 Grand Slam finals with seven of them coming at Wimbledon although Evert won two trophies at SW19 against her great rival.
Navratilova dominated on hard court as she won 10–5 and was also 10-5 on grass while Evert was 11-3 on clay.
