Serena Williams defeated Martina Hingis in the final, 6–3, 7–6(7–4) to win the women's singles tennis title at the 1999 US Open. It was her first major singles title, and the first of an eventual Open Era record 23 major women's singles titles. Williams was the first African American woman in the Open Era to win a singles major, and the first since Althea Gibson at the 1958 U.S. National Championships.