After spending three years ranked as the second-best amateur player in the United States, Arthur Ashe sealed his ascension to the top ranking with his five-set victory over Tom Okker in the first US Open tennis championships.The win on Sept. 9, 1968, also made Ashe, an Army lieutenant at West Point, the first African-American man to win a Grand Slam event. Ashe used more than 25 aces to defeat the Dutchman, 14-12, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, in front of 7,100 spectators at the West Side Tennis Club.It was Ashe’s 26th straight victory since winning the Pennsylvania Grass Court Championships at Merion in July. Two weeks earlier, on Aug. 25, 1968, Ashe helped solidify his case for the top ranking by winning the U.S. Amateur Championships in five sets against U.S. Davis Cup teammate Bob Lutz.That made Ashe the first black person to win the event and the first player to win the U.S. Amateur and US Open in the same calendar year.
