1972 U.S. Open

[Hard Court]

This was an incredible tournament. It was loaded with talent.
The top seeds were Smith, Rosewall, Laver, Nastase, Newcombe, and Ashe. There were at least 15 Hall of Famers in the tournament. Former champions included 1956 and 1970 Champion Ken Rosewall, 1957 champion Mal Anderson, Fred Stolle, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Stan Smith and Arthur Ashe. Future champions included Jimmy Connors, Guillermo Vilas, and Manuel Orantes.

Throughout the tournament, there were fun matches. There actually 148 players in the draw. 40 players had to play in the "Preliminary Round" with the two winners advancing to the first round.

In the Preliminary Round, how about this for a matchup: 16-year-old Bjorn Borg vs 35-year-old Roy Emerson! It was Emerson's last GS tournament. Emmo won in 4 sets.
1st round - Emerson then faced an old rival, 33-year-old Fred Stolle. Stolle won in 4 sets.
15th seeded Jimmy Connors was upset by veteran Tom Gorman, 6-4 in the 5th set.

2nd Round - Ilie Nastase and Roger Taylor met in an epic 5-setter. Nastase won in a 5th set tiebreaker.
2nd-seeded Ken Rosewall was stunned by Mark Cox in 4sets.
Bob Lutz defeated the young Guillermo Vilas in straight sets.

3rd Round - Stolle upset doubles partner John Newcombe in straight sets
Hard serving youngster Roscoe Tanner upset 7th seeded Tom Okker in 4 sets

4th Round - 12th seeded Cliff Richey upset 4th seeded Rod Laver in 4 sets
Smith edged current French Open Gimeno (just turned 35) in 5 sets.
Fred Stolle defeated Cliff Drysdale in four sets. (Yes, that Fred Stolle and that Cliff Drysdale!)

Quarterfinals - 6th seeded Arthur Ashe defeated top-seeded Stan Smith in straight sets.
Tom Gorman defeated Tanner in 5 sets.
Nastase defeated Stolle in 4 sets.

Semifinals - This was pretty tame. Ashe defeated Richey in straight sets and Nastase beat Goran in 4 sets

Final all time Classic with Nastase beating Ashe in 5 sets. Ashe was up 2 sets to 1 and up a break in the fourth set.

Quite a tournament!

 

[Frankc]

Yep-Wowsa - agreed, quite a lineup of stars... super post
I would travel a long way to get restored, full length vids of any of these matchups... Nastase/Stolle? Taylor/Nastase? Connors/Gorman?

In a dream - full length Nastase/Stolle and my favorite beverages...

 

[jrepac]

This was an incredible tournament. It was loaded with talent.
The top seeds were Smith, Rosewall, Laver, Nastase, Newcombe, and Ashe. There were at least 15 Hall of Famers in the tournament. Former champions included 1956 and 1970 Champion Ken Rosewall, 1957 champion Mal Anderson, Fred Stolle, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Stan Smith and Arthur Ashe. Future champions included Jimmy Connors, Guillermo Vilas, and Manuel Orantes.

Throughout the tournament, there were fun matches. There actually 148 players in the draw. 40 players had to play in the "Preliminary Round" with the two winners advancing to the first round.

In the Preliminary Round, how about this for a matchup: 16-year-old Bjorn Borg vs 35-year-old Roy Emerson! It was Emerson's last GS tournament. Emmo won in 4 sets.
1st round - Emerson then faced an old rival, 33-year-old Fred Stolle. Stolle won in 4 sets.
15th seeded Jimmy Connors was upset by veteran Tom Gorman, 6-4 in the 5th set.

2nd Round - Ilie Nastase and Roger Taylor met in an epic 5-setter. Nastase won in a 5th set tiebreaker.
2nd-seeded Ken Rosewall was stunned by Mark Cox in 4sets.
Bob Lutz defeated the young Guillermo Vilas in straight sets.

3rd Round - Stolle upset doubles partner John Newcombe in straight sets
Hard serving youngster Roscoe Tanner upset 7th seeded Tom Okker in 4 sets

4th Round - 12th seeded Cliff Richey upset 4th seeded Rod Laver in 4 sets
Smith edged current French Open Gimeno (just turned 35) in 5 sets.
Fred Stolle defeated Cliff Drysdale in four sets. (Yes, that Fred Stolle and that Cliff Drysdale!)

Quarterfinals - 6th seeded Arthur Ashe defeated top-seeded Stan Smith in straight sets.
Tom Gorman defeated Tanner in 5 sets.
Nastase defeated Stolle in 4 sets.

Semifinals - This was pretty tame. Ashe defeated Richey in straight sets and Nastase beat Goran in 4 sets

Final all time Classic with Nastase beating Ashe in 5 sets. Ashe was up 2 sets to 1 and up a break in the fourth set.

Quite a tournament!

Go Fred Stolle! What a character! Cliff looked good at the USO...God bless!

 

[Hard Court]

Stolle did have a good tournament. Wasn't seeded, had a tough draw and got to the quarters before losing to the guy that won it.
That was quite a tournament. I think that is something we often forget about: the early to mid-rounds. We always remember the finals and occasionally the semifinals. But
It is great when there is something interesting happening for two weeks, not just 13 days of nothing and then the two guys that we knew would play in the final meet.
It's fun when you have a 3rd round match between a veteran and an up and comer. Or two guys ranked in the 30s playing each other in the 2nd round and it goes down to the wire. Even if the winner probably isn't going to win the whole thing, it can be entertaining.

In 1972, there were just so many big names in various stages of their careers that is particularly interesting.

 

[urban]

Those end 60s, early 70s rankings were indeed filled with stars, You had the old pros like Laver, Rosewall, Gonzalez, Emerson, Gimeno, Stolle, Buchholz, then the newer generation of Newcombe, Roche, Ashe, Smith, Okker, Nastase, Drysdale, Richey, Kodes, dangerous outsiders for upsets like Riessen, Pasarell, Taylor, Pilic, Ralston, Graebner, Lutz, Moore and others. The line up 1969 for the USO quarters for instance had Laver-Emerson, Ashe-Rosewall, Newcombe-Stolle, Roche-Buchholz. Last 16 had big matches like Rosewall-Nastase, Roche-Gonzalez,. Laver-Ralston, Newcombe-Riessen, Ashe-Santana. The problem was the struggle between the rivalling organisations WCT and ILTF Grand Prix, which let to many boycotts and non-participations in major tournaments in the early 70s. In 1972, only Forest Hills and LA had all top players competing without any boycott, all other events had separate circuits..

 

[BTURNER]

1. United States Billie Jean King (champion) Did not lose a set marching to her win 0ver #8 Wade, #5 Court, #9 Melville.
2. Australia Evonne Goolagong (third round) Surprise loss to unseeded Pam Teegarden
3. United Chris Evert (semifinalist) One of two barnburner matches, was her come from behind QF over Morozova 3-6, 6-3, 7-6
4. United States Rosie Casals (quarterfinalist) See below ↓
5. Australia Margaret Court (semifinalist) One of two barnburner matches, was her QF win over Casals 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
6. United States Nancy Richey Gunter (first round) Lost in a 3 set shocker to unseeded Sawamatsu of Japan.
7. France Françoise Dürr (third round) Lost to #9 Melville Reid in 3 sets.
8. United Kingdom Virginia Wade (quarterfinalist) Lost to King in straight sets.
9.Australia Kerry Melville (finalist) Beat #7 Durr & #3 Evert in the closest women's match of the tournament.

 

[Airspun]

I was there