2003 WTA Quiz

...the end of 2003 is the beginning of 2004. While you ponder that little riddle, here's the final Backspin quiz of the year. It's focus: the entire past season on the WTA Tour.

==THE QUESTIONS==

1.Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne all spent time as the singles #1 during the past twelve months. Which one won her first title in her debut WTA performance?
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BONUS- True/False. The occurrence of these three women holding the #1 position in singles during the same season matched a WTA record for the most different top-ranked women during a calendar year.
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2.WHO SAID IT? - "I don't think it's really important to be the babe of tennis. I'm there to play tennis. That's my #1 priority. To be the babe, that's like the last thing on my mind."
a.Jelena Dokic
b.Anna Kournikova
c.Daniela Hantuchova
d.Maria Sharapova
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3.16-year old Maria Sharapova was the youngest WTA titleist of 2003, but who was the youngest non-Russian to win a singles title this past season?
a.Arantxa Parra
b.Kim Clijsters
c.Marion Bartoli
d.Meghann Shaughnessy
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4.There were three 30-something WTA singles champions in 2003. Who was the oldest?
a.Conchita Martinez
b.Silvia Farina Elia
c.Amanda Coetzer
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5.True/False. This season, when Kim Clijsters won the Luxembourg title, she became the only active player with a current three-year title streak (2001-03) at the same event.
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6.Which player ranked in the Top 20 at the end of the 2003 season rose from the lowest ranking one year ago?
a.Nadia Petrova
b.Conchita Martinez
c.Francesca Schiavone
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7.Who has won at least one WTA singles title for the most consecutive seasons, the longest current streak by an active player?
a.Serena Williams
b.Kim Clijsters
c.Amelie Mauresmo
d.Venus Williams
e.Jennifer Capriati
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8.WHO AM I? - "I'm a former Top 5 player who had back-to-back multiple WTA title-winning seasons in 2001-02. In 2003, though, I failed to win a crown of any kind, and was the only player ranked in the Top 50 in singles whose won/lost record in WTA events was two or more wins below .500."
a.Iva Majoli
b.Conchita Martinez
c.Jelena Dokic
d.Daniela Hantuchova
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9.True/False. Maria Sharapova won WTA titles in Tokyo and Quebec City, as well as an ITF Challenger title in Sea Island, making her the only player to win at least singles crown on both tours in 2003.
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10.Of the players ranked in the Top 20 at the end of the 2002 season, which one had fallen the most ranking spots at the end of the 2003 season?
a.Monica Seles
b.Alexandra Stevenson
c.Lisa Raymond
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BONUS- Okay, for the final bonus question of 2003, we'll see how closely you were paying attention. Match the player with the Backspin nickname by which she was referred during this season's columns:

a.The Blue Angel...1.J.Dokic
b.Wonder Girl......2.M.Shaughnessy
c.Shillelagh.......3.M.Sharapova
d.Easy-Bake........4.D.Hantuchova
e.Punch-Sober......5.K.Clijsters
f.Compton Sequel...6.V.Douchevina
g.The Debutante....7.E.Dementieva
h.Elle Dolce.......8.A.Hayes
i.Supernova........9.M.Weingartner
j.Le Petit Taureau.10.J.Henin-H.
k.The Natural......11.C.Gullickson
l.Punch-Drunk......12.E.Dementieva

==THE ANSWERS (1 pt. for each unless noted)==

1.Justine Henin-Hardenne. In Antwerp, Belgium in May 1999, 16-year old Henin made her debut on the WTA Tour, winning her first of 14 career singles titles by defeating Sarah Pitkowski in the final. JHH is one of just six (Petra Langrova in '88, Mirjana Lucic in '97, Katerina Srebotnik in '99 and Angelique Widjaja in '01 also did it) players to perform the feat in her debut event, and only the second (joining Tracy Austin in '77) of the thirteen who have held the #1 ranking to do so.
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BONUS- False. In 2002, a record four women (Davenport, Capriati, V.Williams & S.Williams) held the #1 position during the calendar year. Besides 2003, three different #1's in the same season has occurred three other times, in 1980 (Navratilova-Austin-Evert), 1995 (Graf-Sanchez Vicario-Seles) and 2001 (Hingis-Capriati-Davenport).
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2.D. Maria Sharapova
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3.B. Surprisingly, Kim Clijsters was the youngest non-Russian to win a WTA tour singles title in 2003. She was just 19 years, 7 months old when she claimed the Sydney crown in January. By the end of the year, she was still the second-youngest player ranked in the Top 20 (behind 18-year old world #13 Vera Zvonareva). By the way, after Russian Sharapova, the next two youngest titleists were Russians Dinara Safina (17) and Zvonareva.
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4.C. Coetzer (at 31 years, 4 months, 1 week) was the oldest champion last season, winning Acapulco in February. Farina Elia was five weeks younger than Coetzer when she won Strasbourg in May. The other 30-plus winner was Virginia Ruano-Pascual, 30, in Tashkent. World #18 Martinez was the only over-30 player ranked in the Top 20, but she failed to win a title last season.
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5.False. Silvia Farina Elia has won the Strasbourg title from 2001-03.
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6.A. #12 Petrova was ranked #111 at the end of the 2002 season, although her injury-protected ranked was #29 for seeding purposes after she missed seven months (February-August '02) with a foot injury.
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7.D. Venus Williams' title in Antwerp in February extended her seasons streak with at least one WTA title to six, the longest amongst active players. The rest listed (S.Williams, Clijsters, Mauresmo & Capriati) all currently sport five-season streaks. The next-longest active streak is three seasons, by world #1 Justine Henin-Hardenne.
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8.C. Jelena Dokic finished 28-30 in 2003, but still managed to be ranked #15 at the end of the season. The only other players in the Top 50 with sub-.500 marks in WTA events were #41 Emilie Loit (25-26) and #46 Laura Granville (25-26). The highest-ranked player who finished more wins below .500 than Dokic was #53 Nicole Pratt (21-25).
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9.False. In the final week of the just past WTA season, Henrieta Nagyova won the Pattaya City title, the eighth WTA crown of her career. Earlier, she'd won the ITF Challenger in Biella.
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10.B. Stevenson, who tumbled from #18 to #82, fell 64 spots over the past year while compiling a 13-27 singles record. Seles fell 53, from #7 to #60 after missing most of the season with a foot injury.
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BONUS- (half-point for each correct answer) a-9, b-4, c-2, d-5, e-7 or 12, f-8, g-1, h-6, i-3, j-10, k-11, l-7 or 12

==THE SCORING==

17-15...Justine Henin-Hardenne (a career year for you, too!)
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14-10...Kim Clijsters (a super season, but still not quite good enough)
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9-6...Serena Williams (too bad you didn't answer ALL the questions)
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5-0...Anna Kournikova (because it's a rule that she must appear at least once in every Backspin quiz until the end of time)

2003 3Q Quiz

...the 2003 3rd Quarter ended with Justine Henin-Hardenne staking her claim as the best player in the women's game via her victory over Kim Clijsters in the U.S. Open final. So, now it's time to see how closely you were paying attention between Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows.

==THE QUESTIONS==

1.Justine Henin-Hardenne's U.S. Open title gave her a second career grand slam singles title, as well as her second slam crown of 2003. Who was the last woman to claim her first two career slam titles in the same calendar year?
a.Jennifer Capriati in 2001
b.Venus Williams in 2000
c.Martina Hingis in 1997
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2.Immediately following her rise to the #1 position in the singles rankings, Kim Clijsters lost to Lina Krasnoroutskaya in the 3rd Round in Toronto. Previous to that, when was the last time she'd failed to advance to at least the SF of a WTA event?
a.January 2003 in Sydney
b.September 2002 at U.S. Open
c.October 2002 in Zurich
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3.A 3rd Quarter singles titleist became the youngest champion of the 2003 season, matching the feat she accomplished last year as the youngest title winner of 2002. Who is she?
a.Angelique Widjaja
b.Dinara Safina
c.Svetlana Kuznetsova
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4.Since the WTA doubles rankings were instituted in 1984, nineteen players have held the #1 position. Two rose to that status for the first time in their careers during the 3rd Quarter. Kim Clijsters was one. Who was the other?
a.Virginia Ruano-Pascual
b.Paola Suarez
c.Ai Sugiyama
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5.With the two new additions listed above, ten active players have at one time or another been ranked #1 in doubles. From the list below, pick out four who have held the #1 spot:

Corina Morariu
Conchita Martinez
Els Callens
Anna Kournikova
Martina Navratilova
Rennae Stubbs
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6.Two players who have advanced to a grand slam semifinal or better in 1997 saw their singles rankings fall completely out of the Top 100 as the 3rd Quarter concluded. Who are they?
a.Iva Majoli & Clarisa Fernandez
b.Anna Kournikova & Martina Hingis
c.Iva Majoli & Anna Kournikova
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7.Who was the youngest player to win a WTA main draw singles match during the 3rd Quarter?
a.Maria Sharapova
b.Victoriya Kutuzova
c.Carly Gullickson
d.Barbora Strycova
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8.Here's a Backspin quarterly quiz regular: As the 3rd Quarter ended, who was the highest-ranked Top 100 player whose ranking at the start of the Quarter found her outside the Top 100?
a.Melinda Czink
b.Arantxa Parra
c.Maria Vento-Kabchi
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9.True/False. Justine Henin-Hardenne has two career grand slam singles titles to Kim Clijsters' zero. In their junior days, Henin-Hardenne also won more grand slam girls titles than Clijsters.
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10.Jennifer Capriati's title in New Haven was her first in nineteen months, but it meant that she's in a select group of players who have won at least one WTA singles crown in each year of the 2000s. From the list below, pick out four other players who have also won titles in each of the past four seasons:

Serena Williams
Venus Williams
Chanda Rubin
Kim Clijsters
Lindsay Davenport
Justine Henin-Hardenne
Amelie Mauresmo
Amanda Coetzer

==THE ANSWERS (1 point each unless noted)==

1.A... Capriati won both of the first two slam titles of her career (Australian, Roland Garros) during the 2001 season. Along with Henin-Hardenne (2003) and Capriati, the only other players to accomplish the feat since the Open era began in 1970 have been Venus Williams (2000), Martina Hingis (1997, the only one to win her first three in a single calendar year), Chris Evert (1974) and Evonne Goolagong (1971).
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2.C... the last time Clijsters had failed to reach at least the SF was in October 2002 in Zurich, where she lost in the QF to Lindsay Davenport. Her SF-or-better streak covered sixteen WTA events.
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3.B... Safina won her 2003 Palermo title at the age of 17 years, 2 months and 2 weeks, making her the youngest singles champion so far this season. In 2002, she was the youngest singles champ when she won the Sopot title at age 16 years, 3 months.
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4.A... following Clijsters' rise to #1, it was Ruano-Pascual who became the the WTA's nineteenth doubles #1 this past quarter. Her "reign" only last one week, though.
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5. (1 point for each of the four correctly identified) Morariu, Kournikova, Stubbs and Navratilova have all been ranked #1 in doubles during their careers. The six other active players who have been #1 in doubles are Clijsters, Ruano-Pascual, Suarez, Sugiyama, Davenport and Raymond. As things stood at the end of the 3rd Quarter, seven of the ten players were still ranked in the WTA's doubles Top 10. Only Kournikova, Stubbs and Morariu were outside the Top 10.
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6.C... Majoli, the 1997 Roland Garros champion, and Kournikova, a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1997 (her debut at SW19), both saw their singles rankings fall out of the Top 100.
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7.B... Ukrainian-born Victoriya Kutuzova, 14 (two weeks shy of her 15th birthday), defeated Lina Krasnoroutskaya in the 1st Round in Los Angeles (Carson) in her WTA main draw debut. Of note, the next week Krasnoroutskaya rebounded by upsetting new world #1 Kim Clijsters in Toronto.
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8.C... #72 Vento-Kabchi was the highest-ranked Top 100 newcomer at the end of the 3rd Quarter.
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9.False... Neither Henin-Hardenne nor Clijsters ever won a grand slam girls singles title. Only Clijsters ever even made it to a final, losing to Katarina Srebotnik in the 1998 Wimbledon Girls Final. She did win the Roland Garros Girls Doubles (with Jelena Dokic) and US Open Girls Doubles (with Eva Dyrberg) titles in 1998. Actually, fellow Belgian Kirsten Flipkens has more grand slam girls singles titles than the Belgian-born current #1 & #2 players combined, having won both the Wimbledon and U.S. Open girls titles this summer.
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10. (1 point for each of the four correctly identified) S.Williams, V.Williams, Clijsters and Mauresmo are the only players other than Capriati who have won at least one singles title in each season from 2000-03. Three others (Henin-Hardenne, Farina Elia & Maleeva) have won at least one title in every season from 2001-03.

==SCORING==

16 -- You still haven't accomplished enough to challenge Kim's claim on #1... but you're getting close
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15-10 -- This is YOUR battle with painful cramps... such it up like Henin-Hardenne and next time you'll reach the top, too.
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9-5 -- Like Kirsten Flipkens, you're a "Waffle-in-Training"
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0-4 -- Leo Clijsters won't have reason to challenge YOUR integrity