The Tennis Women of South America Quiz

Answer: Gabriela Sabatini

Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini was born on the 16th of May 1970 in Buenos Aires. After a very succesful junior career, she first came to prominence on the professional tour in 1985, when she reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros at the age of 15. She would go on to have a very succesful career with 27 titles in singles on the WTA Tour, including a Grand Slam title at the US Open in 1990.

She also holds an Olympic silver medal from the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoel and twice won the Year End Championships, in 1988 and 1994.

She retired from tennis in 1996.

Answer: Maria Bueno

Maria Bueno was born on the 11th October 1939 in Sao Paulo. She played professional tennis between the years of 1958 and 1970. She won her first Grand Slam title in singles in 1959 at Wimbledon. She won the US Open in the same year. She would go on to win seven Grand Slam singles titles in total, including three times at Wimbledon and four times at the US Open.

She also holds 11 Grand Slam titles in doubles.

Answer: Fabiola Zuluaga

Fabiola Zuluaga was born on the 7th of January 1979 in Cucuta. She made her debut on the WTA Tour in 1994. She won her first singles title in 1999 at her home tournament in Bogota. She would go on to win the tournament in Bogota four times. Her only other singles title was also on the South American continent in Sao Paulo in 1999.

She gained the most fame at the 2004 Australian Open, when she reached the semifinals, losing to eventual winner Justine Henin. She retired from professional tennis in 2005.

Answer: Laura Gildemeister-Arraya

Laura Arraya was born on the 12th of January in Cordoba, Argentina. She is better known under her married name of Gildemeister. She started her professional career in 1981. She won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, the first one in 1982 in Tokyo, when she defeated her compatriot Pilar Vasquez in the final.

Her best result at a Grand Slam was the quarterfinal at Wimbledon in 1991. She lost that match to Gabriela Sabatini. She retired from tennis in 1995. Her older brother Pablo was also a professional tennis player.

He played professionally between 1980 and 1993.

Answer: Paola Suarez

Paola Suarez was born on the 23rd of June 1976 in Pergamino. She played professionally from 1994 and mainly was known as a doubles player. She won eight Grand Slam titles in her career, alongside her Spanish partner Virginia Ruano-Pascual. Their first victory came at Roland Garros in 2001.

They won all Grand Slams except Wimbledon, although they made the final there three times. Paola did have very good singles results as well though, making it to at least the fourth round in all Grand Slams. Her best result came in 2004, when she made the semifinal at Roland Garros, losing to Elena Dementieva.

She retired from tennis in 2007.

Answer: Anita Lizana

Anita Lizana de Ellis was born on the 19th of November 1915 in Santiago. She became the first South American woman to win a Grand Slam title in singles, when she defeated Polish Jadwiga Jedrzejowska at the US Open in 1937. Not much is known about her, because in those years statistics were not very well kept. She did play in the years from 1935 to 1947. She died in 1994 at the age of 78.

Answer: Rossana de los Rios

Rosanna de los Rios was born on the 16th of September 1975 in Asuncion. She started her professional career in 1989. In 1994 she married her husband Gustavo Neffa, a football player. They had their daughter Ana Paula in 1997. She returned to a professional tennis career in 1999.

She won Roland Garros as a junior in 1992, defeating Paola Suarez. She does not have any WTA Tour titles however, although she won several challengers on the ITF Tour.

Answer: Fiorella Bonicelli

Fiorella Bonicelli was born on the 15th of December 1951. She did not manage to win a WTA Tour title in singles, but won the doubles title at Roland Garros in 1976 with French player Gail Sherriff. They defeated American Kathleen Harter and German Helga Masthoff in the final. Bonicelli also won a mixed doubles title at Roland Garros in 1975 with Brazilian Thomaz Koch.

She started her professional career in 1970 and retired in 1986.

Answer: Maria Vento-Kabchi

Maria Alejandra Vento-Kabchi was born on the 24th of May 1974 in Caracas. She started her professional career in 1994. She did not manage to win a singles title on the WTA Tour. In 1998 she lost the final in Gold Coast to Ai Sugiyama. She does have four doubles titles however.

Her best result at a Grand Slam in singles is the fourth round. She first achieved this in 1997 at Wimbledon and repeated it in 2005 at the US Open. She made the quarterfinal at a Grand Slam in doubles four times, at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004, at Wimbledon in 2003 and at the Australian Open in 2004.

She retired from tennis in 2006.

Answer: Clarisa Fernandez

Clarisa Fernandez was born on the 28th of August 1981 in Cordoba. She was a very promising player, but was plagued with several injuries during her career. She made the semifinal of Roland Garros in 2002, losing to Venus Williams. She was unable to repeat that in her later career.

She did not manage to win any titles on the WTA Tour. She won several challengers on the ITF Tour though. She finally retired from tennis in 2008, after battling with knee troubles.