How well do you know the U.S. Open, the year’s last Grand Slam tennis tournament, which begins at Flushing Meadows in New York on Aug. 30? Give this AP quiz about the sport and the event a try:
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1st Round: Heading into the 2021 U.S. Open, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are tied for the men’s record with 20 Grand Slam singles titles apiece. Who ranks fourth on the list?
a.) Rod Laver
b.) Roy Emerson
c.) Bjorn Borg
d.) Pete Sampras
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2nd Round: Ash Barty’s championship at Wimbledon in July gave her two major singles titles. How many other active women own multiple Slams, led by Serena Williams with 23?
a.) 13
b.) 11
c.) 9
d.) 7
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3rd Round: Barty’s 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova was the first women’s final at the All England Club to go three sets since 2012, when Serena Williams beat Agnieszka Radwanska. Last year’s U.S. Open women’s final also went three sets, with Naomi Osaka defeating Victoria Azarenka. Before that, who was the last woman to lose a three-set U.S. Open final?
a.) Karolina Pliskova
b.) Victoria Azarenka
c.) Caroline Wozniacki
d.) Elena Dementieva
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4th Round: Which of these players were involved in the latest-finishing match in U.S. Open history, ending at 2:26 a.m.?
a.) Kei Nishikori vs. Milos Raonic in the fourth round in 2014
b.) Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. John Isner in the third round in 2012
c.) Mats Wilander vs. Mikael Pernfors in the second round in 1993
d.) All of the above
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Quarterfinal: Who holds the women’s record for most aces in a U.S. Open match?
a.) Julia Goerges
b.) Venus Williams
c.) Serena Williams
d.) Daniela Hantuchova ___
Semifinal: Who did not win the U.S. Open (or its predecessor, the U.S. Championships) as an unseeded player?
a.) Fred Stolle
b.) Sloane Stephens
c.) Jimmy Connors
d.) Andre Agassi
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Final: Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open in February, the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July. How many previous times in tennis history did a man win the first three Grand Slam tournaments of a season?
a.) 3
b.) 5
c.) 7
d.) 9
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ANSWERS
1st Round. d. Sampras won his 14th Grand Slam singles title at the 2002 U.S. Open in what turned out to be the last tournament of his career. At the time, that broke his own men’s record, which has since been surpassed by each member of the Big Three. Emerson follows with 12, and Borg and Laver won 11 apiece.
2nd Round. b. Barty is one of a half-dozen active women with at exactly two major singles championships. After Williams’ 23, there’s her sister, Venus, with seven, Naomi Osaka and Kim Clijsters with four each and Angelique Kerber with three. The other women, like Barty, with two major titles apiece: Victoria Azarenka, Simona Halep, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Petra Kvitova and Garbiñe Muguruza.
3rd Round. a. Pliskova was beaten by Angelique Kerber 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 for the title at Flushing Meadows in 2016. The U.S. Open women’s singles finals in 2017 (Sloane Stephens over Madison Keys), 2018 (Naomi Osaka over Serena Williams) and 2019 (Bianca Andreescu over Serena Williams) were all decided in two sets.
4th Round. d. Nishikori’s 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4 victory over Raonic; Kohlschreiber’s 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Isner; and Wilander’s 7-6 (3), 3-6, 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over Pernfors all ended at 2:26 a.m. local time.
Quarterfinal. a. Goerges hit 21 aces during a three-set loss to Donna Vekic in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows in 2019. Serena Williams hit 20 during her three-set victory over Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarterfinals last year. Venus Williams’ high at the U.S. Open is 18 aces; Hantuchova once hit 15 in a match there.
Semifinal. c. Connors never was seeded lower than No. 3 any of the five times he won the U.S. Open, in 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982 and 1983. He is the only man to win the tournament on three surfaces: grass, clay and hard courts. Stolle (1966), Stephens (2017) and Agassi (1994) all won the tournament without being seeded, as did Kim Clijsters (2009) and Mal Anderson (1957).
Final. b. In addition to the three previous times that a man completed a calendar-year Grand Slam (Don Budge in 1938 and Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969), there were two other occasions when someone began a season 3 for 3 at the majors: Jack Crawford in 1933 and Lew Hoad in 1956.
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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich
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