The US Open tournament - the top two upsets of the competition
As the final Grand Slam of the season, the United States Open tennis tournament is just about to begin in a couple of weeks, it would be interesting to throw some light on the pages of history in terms of the greatest upsets made by the men tennis players at the Flushing Meadows in the city of New York. Following are the top two upsets in the history of this illustrious championship that takes place each year as the final Grand Slam event of the season.
1. Manolo Orantes versus Jimmy Connors - US Open final 1975
The big match on the clay court at the Forest Hills back in 1975 was won by Manolo Orantes in a total of three sets. The final match score was 6-4, 6-3, and 6-3. The top-seeded Jimmy Connors knocked down Bjorn Borg in the semi-finals to reach the final round of the 1975 United States Open tournament. Manuel Orantes on the other hand, defeated the second-seeded Guillermo Vilas in a very tight clash to make his way into the final of the fourth major tennis event of the season.
Orantes took full advantage of his favourite clay court on the most important match of the tournament. Connors on the other hand was feeling highly confident prior to the start of the final battle, as he had managed to knock down the Spaniard on six times out of their previous seven meetings.
Orantes, however, surprisingly dominated right from the start of the match and didn’t allow the American to take the charge at any point of the game. He played quite slow and didn’t let the American find rhythm on the clay court. As a result, Orantes toppled and passed his American opponent, Jimmy Connors at the net with stunning accuracy.
Although there is no doubt about the fact that Connors didn’t give up till the end; his game was not good enough to win another title against the red hot Orantes. Connors as a result lost his third major tournament to the underdog Manolo back in 1975.
2. John McEnroe versus Bill Scanlon - fourth round battle 1983
The top seeded American John McEnroe who was ranked number one in the world in former years, was thrashed out in the fourth round of the United States Open tournament back in 1983 at the hands of his compatriot fellow Bill Scanlon in a total of four sets. The final match score was 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.
McEnroe reached the fourth round of the competition after hammering down John Sadri, Vincent Van Patten as well as Trey Waltke. Scanlon, on the other hand had downed Henrik Pat Cash, Sundstrom as well as Chris Lewis before meeting McEnroe in the fourth round of the US Open 1983 event.
The New York spectators supported Scanlon, and he responded well to take down the top-seeded McEnroe who couldn’t play at his very best without any measure of speculations.
McEnroe during that final battle won just a total of 51 percent of his opening serves, committed 14 unforced errors and double faulted on a total of 10 occasions. Off course a player with similar statistics in a match cannot win in the end. Due to his high rate of negligence, Scanlon turned out to be the winner in the end. The victory definitely was a deserving one as Bill played better than American John McEnore. In fact he made it all the way into the semi-final round of the competition, where he was thrashed out by the ultimate winner Jimmy Connors in the city of New York.
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