user: ### NOW ANSWER:
Question: Who was the champion earlier than 1978 when the runner-up was Jimmy Connors?
Columns: ['Location', 'Year', 'Champion', 'Runner-up', 'Score']
Types: ['text', 'real', 'text', 'text', 'text']
Sample row: ['Myrtle Beach', 1976.0, 'Ilie Năstase', 'Manuel Orantes', '6–4, 6–3']
SQL:

assistant: SELECT "Champion" FROM "Table" WHERE "Runner-up" = 'Jimmy Connors' AND "Year" < 1978.0;