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Defending champion Pete Sampras defeated Michael Chang in the final, 6–1, 6–4, 7–6(7–3) to win the men's singles tennis title at the 1996 US Open.
During Sampras' quarterfinal match against Àlex Corretja, Sampras had a stomach bug and vomited during the fifth set, prompting a warning from the referee for delaying the match. Sampras eventually won the fifth set in a tiebreak, 7–6(9–7).
In the draw for the tournament, there were accusations[citation needed] of American favoritism as world No. 3 Michael Chang, world No. 8 Andre Agassi, and world No. 9 Jim Courier (all Americans) were seeded above their world ranking at numbers 2, 6, and 8 respectively. Other players were seeded above their world ranking, including world No. 6 Goran Ivanišević (seeded at number 4) and world No. 7 Richard Krajicek (seeded at number 5). Conversely, other players were seeded below their world ranking, including world No. 2 Thomas Muster (seeded at number 3), world No. 5 Boris Becker (seeded at number 6), and world No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov (seeded at number 7). Becker withdrew from the tournament with an injury, and Kafelnikov withdrew from the tournament in protest of the seeding.
This was the last major appearance for Stefan Edberg; he lost to Ivanišević in the quarterfinals.