With the best-of-three set vs. best-of-five set debate a hot-button topic on the ATP tour, it's interesting to look back at a time when the WTA was using the extended format. It wasn't common, but from 1984 to 1998, the final of the the season-ending championship was a best-of-five set match. It was the only time best-of-five was contested in the women's game in the last 50 years, and the first since the 1901 U.S. National Championships.
And it's only fitting that the first-ever final that used the best-of-five format was played between longtime rivals Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Navratilova won the match in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, 6-1. Here's more on what was a unique time in women's tennis:
