billie jean king defeated evonne goolagong 3–6, 6–3, 7–5 in the final to win the women's singles tennis title at the 1974 us open. with her loss, goolagong missed her chance to complete the career grand slam. goolagong would snap chris evert's winning streak, at 55 matches in the semi-finals. this was an open era record for 10 years until 1984, when it was broken by martina navratilova. reigning champion margaret court did not defend her title.