2 Responses to uo75orantes_connors

1. Voo de Mar says:

   September 5, 2024 at 4:50 am

   Points won by each set: | 32-31, 30-24, 28-25 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   19 % Orantes – 17 of 87
   8 % Connors – 7 of 83

   Prior to the afternoon final, Connors [1] led 6:1 in their H2H meetings, having won the three previous encounters without any troubles. In the mid-3rd set, Connors won 13 points in a row. Orantes [9] finished his memorable semifinal (arguably the most impressive comeback in the Open Era) at 10:30 p.m. a day before! “I tried to give him soft balls,” said the soft‐spoken Spaniard who joined his countryman, Manuel Santana (1965), as a US Open champion. “Let him do everything. I know he is not as consistent that way, and I am lucky he missed so many shots.” Connors stated: “He played unbelievably. I didn’t think it would be possible for him to play the way he did and hit the kind of passing‐shots he did. Unfortunately for me, he did.” Spaniards will have to wait 18 years for another major title.

   Orantes’ route to his 22nd title:
   1 Bernard Mitton 6-3, 6-2
   2 Sashi Menon 6-2, 6-2
   3 Hans-Jurgen Pohmann 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
   4 Francois Jauffret 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
   Q Ilie Nastase 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
   S Guillermo Vilas 4-6, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 – 5 m.p.
   W Jimmy Connors 6-4, 6-3, 6-3

   In the 3-hour 44-minute semifinal, Orantes trailed 0:5 in the 4th set!

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   September 5, 2024 at 7:00 pm

   It was the first edition of the US Open held on green-clay (previously on grass), also the first major with night sessions, and the officials bizarrely decided to make the first three rounds “the best of three”. There were only three editions on clay, but when the event moved to hardcourts in 1978, the first edition there was conducted with “the best of three” format in the opening three rounds too.

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