4-6, 6-1, 7-5

With Monica Seles out of her game after she was stabbed in Hamburg, the stage was clear for Steffi Graf to dominate the women's game. Or so it seemed until Spain's Arantxa Sanchez Vicario stepped up to try and deny her a sixth title.

The Spaniard dropped only five points on her own serve in the first set and took it with some exquisite tennis. Graf was not going to take that lying down and ran through the second set.

Already a great final, the match reached classic proportions when Sanchez Vicario served at 5-5 in the deciding set.

The game had 13 deuces, 18 game points and lasted for 20 minutes. Sanchez Vicario attacked Graf's backhand with such consistency the German spent much of the game camped in the tramlines on the edge of the court.

When Sanchez Vicario seemed set to close out on what was her 13th game point, Graf threw herself across the court in an almost Becker-like fashion to reach the volley.

On her own sixth game point, Graf at last found a powerful backhand drive to seal the break of serve and effectively the match.

The Centre Court crowd applauded for the entire changeover, the euphoria continuing as Graf served out for the title. Graf let out an enormous sigh of relief and a cry of joy. The German won seven Wimbledons among her 22 Grand Slams but never was she forced to fight harder for victory.