Sunday, November 20, 2005

2005/4Q WTA Quiz

>>>THE QUESTIONS<<<

1.This was the end-of-season WTA singles Top 10:

#1 Lindsay Davenport
#2 Kim Clijsters
#3 Amelie Mauresmo
#4 Maria Sharapova
#5 Mary Pierce
#6 Justine Henin-Hardenne
#7 Patty Schnyder
#8 Elena Dementieva
#9 Nadia Petrova
#10 Venus Williams

Only four of the above players maintained their Top 10 ranking for all 45 weeks of the WTA schedule. Who were they?
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2.Two players notched multiple wins over #1-ranked players in the world in 2005. Who did it?

a.Kim Clijsters & Venus Williams
b.Serena Williams & Amelie Mauresmo
c.Maria Sharapova & Mary Pierce
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3.BACKSPIN NICKNAME MATCH-UP. Which of the '05 Backspin nicknames goes with the appropriate player?

a.Ferris
b.Vesuvius
c.Killer
d.Steamer
e.Sneaky
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1.Alicia Molik
2.Nicole Vaidisova
3.Venus Williams
4.Patty Schnyder
5.Kim Clijsters
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4.From the list below, pick all the players who defeated Serena Williams in 2005:

a.Tiantian Sun
b.Jill Craybas
c.Francesca Schiavone
d.Silvia Farina Elia
e.Jelena Jankovic
f.Anna-Lena Groenefeld
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5.TRUE/FALSE. In 2005, no American woman won a WTA singles title who wasn't named Davenport or Williams.
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6.Kim Clijsters earned $2,200,000 (USD) for winning both the U.S. Open Series and the U.S. Open title. What was the bonus she gave her coach?

a.9% of $2.2m
b.$9,000
c.$90,000
d.none
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7.In 2005, several players had periods of time when they were simultaneously ranked in the Top 10 in both singles and doubles. From this list, which ones did?

Kim Clijsters
Lindsay Davenport
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Alicia Molik
Nadia Petrova
Vera Zvonareva
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8.Several countries had a lone player advance to a WTA singles final this season. Three of them were Croatia, Colombia and the Netherlands. Name the single finalist who represented each country in a deciding match.
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9.Which player who finished ranked in the singles Top 50 raised her ranking the most places since the end of 2004?

a.Nicole Vaidisova
b.Sania Mirza
c.Sesil Karatantcheva
d.Lucie Safarova
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10.CZECH OR RUSSIAN? Match up the following 2005 ITF titlists with their nationalities:

Renata Voracova
Angelina Gabueva
Sandra Zahlavova
Veronika Raimrova
Anastasia Pivovarova
Iveta Gerlova
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BONUS: In the 4Q, Cara Black became the 20th woman to be ranked #1 since the doubles rankings were established in 1984. Twelve, including Black, played on tour in 2005. Name as many as you can.
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>>>THE ANSWERS (2 pts.each unless noted)<<<

1.(2 pts.for each of 4 correct answers) Davenport, Mauresmo, Sharapova and Dementieva were the only players who remained in the Top 10 for every week of the season.
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2.c. Sharapova (two wins over #1 Davenport) and Pierce (also two over Davenport) recorded multiple victories over world #1's in 2005. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, it should be noted, defeated #1 Davenport once and led then-#1 Sharapova 6-1/4-2 before being forced to retire with an ankle injury.
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3.(2 pts.for each of 5 correct answers) a-3, b-2, c-5, d-1, e-4
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4.(2 pts.for each of 5 correct answers) a,b,c,d,e. Five of the six players listed all notched wins over Serena this year. From the list, only Groenefeld did not.
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5.False. Amy Frazier, 33, won the title in Quebec City in Week 44.
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6.b. Clijsters gave her coach a "whopping" $9,000 bonus. Needless to say, he's now her former coach.
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7.(2 pts.for each of 3 correct answers) Kuznetsova (35 weeks), Molik (18) and Petrova (12) spent time in the Top 10 in both singles and doubles at the same time in '05.
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8.(2 pts for each of 3 correct answers) Croatia: Karolina Sprem was Kolkata RU to Anastasia Myskina; Colombia: Catalina Castano was Budapest RU to Anna Smashnova; Netherlands: Michaella Krajicek won the Tashkent final over Akgul Amanmuradova.
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9.b. Mirza jumped 175 spots (#206 to #31) in the last twelve months. Safarova went up 135 (#183 to #50), Karatantcheva 92 (#127 to #35) and Vaidisova 62 (#77 to #15).
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10.(2 pts.for each of 6 correct answers) Voracova, Zahlavova, Raimrova and Gerlova are Czechs. Gabueva and Pivovarova are Russian.
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BONUS: (1 pt.for each of 12 correct answers) In chronological order of first reaching the #1 ranking: Martina Navratilova, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis, Corina Morariu, Lisa Raymond, Rennae Stubbs, Ai Sugiyama, Paola Suarez, Kim Clijsters, Virginia Ruano-Pascual and Cara Black.
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>>>THE SCORING<<<

55-70 - You're like Vaidisova in 2006
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35-54 - You're like Sharapova, good but hoping for more in 2006
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15-34 - You're like Mirza, your results could go either way in 2006
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5-14 - You're like Zvonareva, just wishing for 2006 to get here
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0-4 - You're like Capriati, looking for a comeback in 2006
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All for now.