Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere defeated Martina Navratilova for the first time at the 1990 U.S. Open championships, "When I learned I had to play her in the round of 16, I thought that maybe this is the time when I am finally going to beat one of the top 2 seeds in a Grand Slam tournament."
On reflection, Martina conceded, "That's the best I've ever seen her play. I wimped out on a lot of balls, and she also read my shots very well. I didn't get her guessing enough. I was letting her anticipate...When she got nervous, she was still able to keep the ball in play and hit the passing shots as well as she did the whole match. She moved the best I’ve ever seen her move."
Before the U.S. Open, Martina played Monica Seles at the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles. Monica remembered the deciding set, "At 5-1, I didn't know what was happening. I think I just choked. I got so nervous, my racket stopped and I was scared to hit the ball. I didn’t know what to do. I don’t know but at 5-1 something in the back of my mind told me that we were going to 5-all. I hit a couple of good shots and had a lot of luck too...(Overall) I had a little bit more strength to pull it out. I was able to play it point by point."
Martina pointed out, "Give me an 'A' for effort. Everytime I had chances to go ahead, I blew it. Everytime I got close, it felt like someone was extending it. It was like a never-ending ladder...If there is a moral to the story, it’s stay ahead, don’t fall back."
