Following Borg's Wimbledon triumph the US Open title was up for grabs as the final Grand Slam tournament of the year. American Jimmy Connors was seeded 1 and Borg 2. The tournament was played at Forest Hills Queens in New York on clay (har-tru) . The surface was no where near as slow as the French Open clay surface so Borg's advantage being a traditional clay court player was minimal. The two top seeds won their respective Semi finals easily with Connors over coming Argentine Guillermo Vilas 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 and Borg beating Ilie Nastase 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
Connors was looking to claim back the title that he had won in 1974 against Australian Ken Rosewall but had lost in 1975 to Spaniard Manuel Orantes. This particular year proved to be a classic match and at one set all both players reached 6 games all in the third . Borg had 4 set points but Connors saved them all with some typical heavy hitting that typified his all or nothing approach to tennis. Connors was the type of player who would play with no fear , even when his back was to the wall , it's what made him a champion.
Connors took the match 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, (11-9) 6-4 and he retained the World number one ranking for the remainder of 1976.
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