Women's Singles: US Open 2009 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kim Clijsters

Kim Clijsters came into the 2009 US Open having retired from tennis for two years. During this period, she got married and gave birth to a daughter in February 2008. She surprised the world by winning the title as an unranked wildcard entry. She was the first wildcard to ever reach the US Open final, and the first wildcard to win the title.

Answer: Serena Williams

During her semi-final match against Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams was serving at 4-6, 5-6 at 15-30 when the lines woman called a foot fault on her second serve. Williams was rather surprised about this and started yelling on the lines woman, who eventually reported this to the chair umpire.

This resulted in Williams being given a point penalty for "unsportsman-like" conduct, which cost her the match with Clijsters winning, 6-4, 7-5.

Answer: Petra Kvitova

Dinara Safina was seeded no. 1 having gotten to the semi-finals or better of her last four Grand Slams. However, she lost to Czech teenager Petra Kvitova in the third round, 4-6, 6-2, 6-7. This was Safina's third consecutive three-setter, having gone through the distance against Olivia Rogowska and Kristina Barrois in the first two rounds respectively.

Answer: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova, Nadia Petrova

17-year old Melanie Oudin of the United States became an overnight phenomenon at the US Open when she beat four consecutive Russians in a row, three of whom were seeded, to reach the quarterfinals. Among these Russians were no. 4 seed Dementieva, no. 13 seed Nadia Petrova, and no. 29 seed and former champion Maria Sharapova.

Answer: Caroline Wozniacki

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark who was seeded 9 and 19 years of age, reached her first Grand Slam final at the US Open 2009. She fell short of the title however, losing to Kim Clijsters, 5-7, 3-6.

Answer: 1

Out of the top 8 seeded players, only 1 made it through to the quarterfinals, namely no. 2 seed Serena Williams. No. 3 seed Venus Williams along with no. 6 and 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva, lost in the fourth round. No. 1 Dinara Safina and no. 8 Victoria Azarenka lost in the third round, while finally no. 4 and no. 5 Elena Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic both lost in the second round.

Answer: Elena Dementieva

Elena Dementieva ended up winning the US Open series having won Toronto, and getting through to the semi-finals at Stanford and Cincinnati. However, she fell short of winning the US Open, losing in the 2nd round to unheralded Melanie Oudin of the USA, 7-5, 4-6, 3-6.

Answer: Kateryna Bondarenko

Kateryna Bondarenko won a tight match against Ivanovic, winning 2-6, 6-3, 7-6. Ivanovic was in tears after the match while Bondarenko went on to eventually reach the quarterfinals.

Answer: 6

The first round saw six of the 32 seeded players out of the tournament. These were namely no. 11 Ana Ivanovic, no. 16 Virginie Razzano, no. 25 Kaia Kanepi, no. 27 Alisa Kleybanova, no. 28 Sybille Bammer, and no. 32 Agnes Szavay.

Answer: 9

Svetlana Kuznetsova achieved this feat in 2004 by beating Elena Dementieva in the final, 6-3, 7-5. This record was however, smashed by 2009 champ Kim Clijsters, having won the title while unranked. Clijsters eventually got a WTA ranking of 19 after winning the title.