Who defeated Bobby Riggs in the 1973 tennis exhibition known as the Battle of the Sexes?

Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in the 1973 tennis exhibition known as the Battle of the Sexes.

The match took place on September 20, 1973, at the Houston Astrodome. King, then 29, beat the 55-year-old Riggs in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. Riggs had been a former world No. 1 and Wimbledon champion, but he had retired from top-level competition and was promoting the idea that a leading woman could not defeat him.

Before facing King, Riggs had beaten Margaret Court 6–2, 6–1 in a match later nicknamed the Mother's Day Massacre. That result helped persuade King to accept Riggs's challenge, which was framed as a winner-takes-all exhibition with a $100,000 prize.

The event became far more than a sporting spectacle. An estimated 50 million people watched in the United States, with a worldwide audience estimated at 90 million. King's victory became a landmark for women's tennis and the broader movement for gender equality in sport. It is sometimes confused with Riggs's earlier match against Court, which he won.