PARIS, May 21 (AFP) - The first French Championships were played in 1891 - 14 years after Wimbledon began, 10 years after the first United States Open and 14 years before the first Australian Open. Non-French players did not compete in the tournament until 1925. Held originally at the Paris Stade Francais and then, on alternate years, at the Croix-Catelan Racing Club, the French Championships moved to the current Roland Garros Stadium close to the Porte d'Auteuil, in the west of the capital, in 1928. The new stadium, named after World War I aviation hero Roland Garros, was built in less than a year, and the first champions at the new arena were Frenchman Henri Cochet and American Helen Wills-Moody. Tournament milestones: 1930 - Helen Wills-Moody wins third consecutive women's singles title. 1932 - Frenchman Henri Cochet becomes the first player to win the men's singles title three times. 1934 - Gottfried von Cramm becomes the first German player to win the men's singles title. 1937 - German Hilde Sperling captures her third consecutive women's singles title. 1938 - American Donald Budge wins the men's singles title and goes on to notch up the first-ever 'Grand Slam' while Simone Mathieu of France finally wins the women's singles crown after losing in six finals. 1939 - William McNeill beats Bobby Riggs in the first-ever all-American men's final. 1947 - Hungarian Jozsef Asboth becomes the first East European player to win men's singles title. A junior men's singles event is included in tournament programme for the first time. 1951 - Czech Jaroslav Drobny wins the men's event at a fourth attempt after three unsuccessful appearances in the final. 1953 - Ken Rosewall of Australia, at 18 years 7 months, becomes the youngest-ever men's singles champion while American Maureen Connolly, at 18 years 8 months (and on her way to the first female 'Grand Slam') becomes the youngest-ever winner of the women's crown 1954 - Tony Trabert of the United States becomes the first player to win the men's singles title without losing a set. 1962 - An 'all-Australian' year. Rod Laver (on his way to his first 'Grand Slam') recovers from two sets down to beat fellow-Australian Roy Emerson for the men's singles title, while Margaret Smith, later Court, saw off compatriot Lesley Turner in the women's event. 1966 - Hungarian Istvan Gulyas accepts a delay of 24 hours before coming out to play in the men's singles final to allow Australian opponent Tony Roche time to recover from an ankle injury. Roche wins the title. 1968 - The tournament becomes the first Grand Slam event to go 'open' and admit the professional players. Australian Ken Rosewall beats Rod Laver to become the oldest-ever singles champion at 33 years 7 months. The women's singles is won by Nancy Richey of the United States who beats Britain's Ann Jones. 1969 - Rod Laver (about to achieve a second 'Grand Slam') wins his second singles title. 1970 - Czech Jan Kodes beats Yugoslavia's Zeljko Franulovic in the shortest-ever men's final - winning 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 in just 68 minutes. Margaret Smith-Court of Australia, on her way to her first 'Grand Slam' takes women's title for a fourth time by outplaying Helga Niessen of Germany 6-2, 6-4. 1971 - Jan Kodes retains the men's title by beating Romanian Ilie Nastase, while Evonne Goolagong wins the women's singles in an all-Australian showdown with Helen Gourlay. 1972 - Andres Gimeno of Spain becomes the oldest winner of the men's singles crown at the age of 34 years 10 months. 1973 - Inauguration of the tie-break does not stop the 1973 Championships from being the longest-ever. Romanian Ilie Nastase beats Nikki Pilic of Yugoslavia in the men's final on the Tuesday of the third week after serious rain delays disrupted the tournament. 1974 - Trailing by two sets to love in the final, 18-year-old Swedish newcomer Bjorn Borg comes back to defeat Manuel Orantes of Spain for the men's title while Chris Evert of the United States captures her first women's singles title without dropping a set. 1976 - Italian Adriano Panatta saves a match point in the first-round before going on to win the men's title. For the first time more than 100,000 spectators attend the tournament. 1979 - Attendance over the two weeks rises to over 200,000. 1980 - Inauguration of the number-one show court. 1981 - Bjorn Borg wins record sixth title and fourth in succession. 1982 - Mats Wilander of Sweden becomes the youngest-ever men's singles champion at the age of 17 years 9 months - after insisting on replaying a match-point in his semi-final against Jose Luis Clerc despite the fact that the umpire had ruled the point in his favour. 1983 - Yannick Noah becomes first Frenchman to win the men's singles crown since Marcel Bernard's triumph 37 years earlier. 1984 - Extensions to the stadium bring the number of competition courts to 17. Ivan Lendl beats John McEnroe for the men's title after trailing by two sets to love. The women's doubles winners, Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver, are on their way to a 'Grand Slam'. 1986 - Chris Evert wins women's title for a seventh time. More than 300,000 spectators attend the Championships. 1987 - At the age of 17 years 11 months, Steffi Graf becomes the youngest-ever women's champion. 1988 - Steffi Graf, who doesn't drop a set at the tournament, retains her women's title by ruthlessly dismissing Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union in the final in just 34 minutes. 1989 - Michael Chang becomes youngest-ever men's champion at the age of 17 years 3 months by beating Stefan Edberg. He is the first American to win the title in 44 years. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain becomes the youngest-ever women's champion at the age of 17 years 5 months. 1990 - Monica Seles takes over from Arantxa Sanchez Vicario as the youngest-ever women's champion at the age of 16 years 9 months while American Jennifer Capriati, 14 years 2 months, becomes the youngest-ever semi-finalist. In the men's singles, both of the top seeds, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, are defeated in the first-round and on the same day. Left-handed veteran Andres Gomez becomes the first player from Ecuador to win a Grand Slam title by defeating Andre Agassi in the final. 1991 - While the tournament celebrates its centenary, Andre Agassi loses in the final for the second year running. This time he is beaten by fellow-American Jim Courier. 1992 - Monica Seles wins women's title for the third time while Jim Courier retains the men's crown by beating Czech Petr Korda. 1993 - Sergi Bruguera becomes the first Spaniard to win the men's title in 21 years by dethroning Jim Courier in the final. Steffi Graf wins her third singles crown. 1994 - The year of the Spanish 'double'. Bruguera retains the men's title by beating unorthodox compatriot Alberto Berasategui while Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario wins her second women's singles crown by beating France's Mary Pierce. The final was completed on the second Sunday after being stopped early in the first set by rain on the Saturday. 1995 - Thomas Muster, unbeaten on clay all season, becomes the first Austrian winner of the men's singles. He defeats Michael Chang in the final. Steffi Graf, despite early season injury worries, notches up her fourth women's singles crown by beating Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. 1996 - Steffi Graf again beats Sanchez-Vicario for the women's title when she scores a 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 10-8 win in the longest final in tournament history. Played in front of 17,500 entralled spectators, the final lasted 3hr 3min. Yevgeny Kafelnikov became the first Russian to win the men's crown. The 22-year-old defeated Michael Stich of Germany 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) in a two-and-a-half hour duel. 1997 - With seeded players falling like ninepins, two surprise singles champions emerged. Gustavo Kuerten, who raised eyebrows among the French establishment by playing in a blue-and-yellow football-style kit, brushed aside experienced Spaniard Sergi Bruguera to become the first-ever Brazilian to win the men's title. The 22-year-old Kuerten, ranked a modest 66, scored a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win. In the women's event, Iva Majoli of Croatia upset hot favourite Martina Hingis, the new teenage force in women's tennis, and scored a 6-4, 6-2 win. 1998 - Carlos Moya, the 12th seed, won an all-Spanish final against 14th seed Alex Corretja in straight sets 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 to bag the men's singles title. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario made it a Spanish double as the fourth seed beat sixth seed and three-time champion Monica Seles of the USA, who had ousted world number one Martina Hingis in the semis. It was Sanchez-Vicario's third Roland Garros singles title.  