This day in US Open History -- September 2

Happy birthday Jimmy Connors!

1924: Bill Tiden wins his fifth straight U.S. men's singles title with a 6-1, 97, 62 victory over Bill Johnston.

1970: The tie-break makes its debut in Grand Slam tennis on the opening day of the 1970 US Open. A total of 26 tie-breaks (the nine-point sudden death tie-break) are played on the first day of the tournament, with Bob McKinley and Ray Ruffels both winning matches in fifth-set tie-breaks. Jimmy Connors plays his first match t the US Open on his 18th birthday, losing to Marx Cox, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

1971: Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors win their first US Open singles matches. Playing in her first US Open, the 16-year-old Evert wins the first of her record 101 US Open matches, defeating Edda Buding, 6-1, 6-0 in 42 minutes. Playing on his 19th birthday, Connors comes back from a two-set deficit to defeat Alex Olmedo, 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, 75.

1977: Using the eventually outlawed "spaghetti strings," 22-year-old Mike Fishbach upsets No. 16 seed Stan Smith, 6-0, 6-2, in a best-of-three-set second round match. Fishbach uses a racket he has strung with two interwoven layers of gut reinforced with fish test line, adhesive tape and twine that help him generate extraordinary amounts of spin.