One-Hit Wonders of the Open Era: Volume IV - Vitas Gerulaitis and Mima Jausovec
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Twice as nice for Vitas at the Australian Open
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Vitas Gerulaitis, 1977 Australian Open (late)
It took the uniqueness of two Australian Opens in the same calendar year to get Vitas Gerulaitis his only career Grand Slam.
He had no problem with this.
The Lithuanian-American had an impressive 1977, reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon and the fourth round of the US Open leading up to the Australian Open in December.
He was the top seed in the tournament, with fellow American Roscoe Tanner seeded second, followed by a bevy of Aussies.
Tanner and third-seeded Tony Roche fell flat in the first round, opening up the easy route for Gerulaitis, who lost only one set in the first four rounds.
He needed four sets to knock off unseeded Australian Ray Ruffels, but only three to whip sixth-seeded John Alexander to reach the finals against unseeded and unheralded Brit John Lloyd.
Lloyd was the first British player in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam final, and was trying to become the first Englishman to win a Slam in 41 years.
The future husband of Chris Evert pushed Gerulaitis to the limit, but fell 6-3, 7-7, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2.
Mima Jausovec, 1977 French
The native of Yugoslavia, Mima Jausovec had good early success at the Slams, reaching at least the third round of at least one major in each of her first three seasons, including the semifinals of the 1976 US Open.
After not participating in the Australian Open the following January, she went into the French Open as the No. 1 seed despite having never made it past the second round at Roland Garros.
She didn't lose a set until the semifinals, where she went to war against Czechoslovakia's Regina Marsikova, taking a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
That put her into the finals against unseeded Florenta Mihai of Romania. Mihai won a second-set tie-breaker to send the match to a third set, but Juasovec regained her form and dominated the third set 6-1 to take the title.
Jausovec lost in the final of the French Open the following year and again in 1983, but never made it past any other semifinal.
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