On her first trip to the United States, Yevgeniya Biryukova just wanted to play tennis. Soviet authorities, she had found, were stingy with such opportunities. The 20-year-old physical education student from Baku was the reigning champion and top-ranked player in the USSR. Yet when a Soviet team left for America in March, Olga Morozova and Marina Kroshina got the call instead.
Biryukova, a member of the Stormy Petrel club in Baku, finally reached enemy territory in August. She lost a first-rounder at the US Open to Ilana Kloss, then headed to Charlotte for the Four Roses Classic. She picked up her first win on American soil against Marilyn Tesch, then waited for her highest-profile match yet, against none other than Chris Evert.
Evert was a late arrival to the tournament, having taken part in the World Invitational Tennis Classic in Hilton Head. Bed-ridden with a virus, she was in no condition to play her scheduled match on Thursday. But rain interceded, and the match was delayed.
While tournament officials watched and waited on Thursday, Biryukova earned her first batch of stateside fans. The Azerbaijani player could have asked for a default, but that was never in the cards. “She said she came here to play tennis,” the tournament director relayed, “and would be glad to play the match, no ifs or buts about it.”
Alas, Evert wasn’t well enough to play on Friday, either. Biryukova advanced to the quarters, where she dispatched Britain’s Veronica Burton in straight sets. Her first semi-final appearance against top-flight Western competition carried an extra charge. Morozova, the fourth seed in Charlotte, didn’t make it as far, losing a marathon to Martina Navratilova the same day.
On September 15th, the Stormy Petrel was in the final four, a position she would’ve considered unthinkable just a few days earlier. Evert, Morozova, and Virginia Wade were out; Navratilova and Evonne Goolagong were in the other half. Biryukova’s opponent was the equally unknown Japanese woman Kazuko Sawamatsu. The two players had met just a month earlier, at the World University Games in Moscow, where Sawamatsu picked up the victory.
But Biryukova had been paying attention. Sawamatsu’s backhand was weak, and she wasn’t the best mover. While the Soviet player liked to come forward, Sawamatsu made it difficult. Settling in for a baseline duel, Biryukova aimed to “hit to her backhand, but not every time,” as she said through Morozova, who interpreted for her.
A local reporter judged the match to be “a test of patience and endurance rather than firepower,” a contrast to the more stylish Goolagong-Navratilova semi that went the way of the Australian. Biryukova struck first, breaking serve in the seventh game and holding on to win the first set, 6-4. She played the big points better than Sawamatsu did–or, at least, not as badly. The Japanese woman double-faulted to hand her opponent a break on two occasions. Biryukova came back from 40-15 to break for 5-4 in the second, then held on for victory.
The woman from Baku was satisfied with her victory but realistic about her chances against Goolagong. “Let me rest for a while,” she said, “and then I’ll think about it.”
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The Four Roses Classic was, for the most part, a Bobby Riggs-free zone. Billie Jean King had entered the Virginia Slims tournament in St. Louis, and unable to compete, she stayed in Hilton Head under a doctor’s supervision. Five days away from the nationally-televised spectacle, King remained optimistic she could play, and Riggs pronounced that she had cracked under the pressure.
Still, no self-respecting newspaperman in Charlotte could leave the question unasked. Would Goolagong consider taking on Riggs herself? As usual, she left it to her coach, Vic Edwards, to answer.
“These matches are strictly for money, and not for tennis,” he said of the Battles of the Sexes. “The less said about them, the better.”
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This post is part of my series about the 1973 season, Battles, Boycotts, and Breakouts. Keep up with the project by checking the TennisAbstract.com front page, which shows an up-to-date Table of Contents after I post each installment.
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