Sunday, 3 June 2012

Dominika Cibulkova

Dominika Cibulkova, born 6 May 1989 in Piešťany, Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia is a professional Slovak tennis player. She is also a former world junior no. 3, achieving that ranking in May 2005. Her career-high ranking of world no. 12 was achieved on 6 July 2009. Her best result was reaching the semi-finals of the 2009 French Open, while she has also reached the quarter-finals at the 2010 US Open and the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. Cibulková has also won one title on the WTA tour, winning the tournament in Moscow in 2011.

Personal

Cibulková began playing tennis between the ages of seven and nine[3] and grew up in Bratislava, Slovakia. She can speak both Slovak and English.

She lists clay and hard as her favourite surfaces, and has thus far proved to be most proficient on a hard surface.

Career
Early career

Cibulková competed predominantly on the ITF circuit at this time, and managed to win two tournaments: the Amarante, Portugal event in 2005, and the Bratislava event in 2006.

At the 2010 Monterrey Open, Cibulková was the 4th seed. She came from a set down to beat No. 5 seed Ágnes Szávay in the quarterfinals. She fell to fellow Slovak and No. 2 seed Daniela Hantuchová in three sets. At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open she was upset by Sara Errani in the second round after receiving a bye. At the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, Cibulková lost in the third round to Justine Henin, 6–4, 6–4. At the 2010 MPS Group Championships as the third seed she cruised through the semifinals before losing to Olga Govortsova 6–4, 7–5. At the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia she lost in the third round to Maria Kirilenko 4–6, 6–1, 6–1. At the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open she lost in the second round to 13th seed Li NaAt the 2010 French Open, where she reach the semifinals the year before, she lost in the third round 6–3, 6–4 to the world no. 2 Venus Williams.

She then played at the 2010 UNICEF Open losing to Kirsten Flipkens 6–2, 6–3 at the quarterfinals. At the Wimbledon 2010, where she upset Lucie Šafářová and defeating Ayumi Morita. She lost in the third round 6–0, 7–5 to world no. 1 Serena Williams. She then lost in the first round of 2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open to Ksenia Pervak 6–1 6–3 and then suffered 4 straight loses in the second round of 2010 Bank of the West Classic to Yanina Wickmayer 6–1 6–4, first rounds of the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open to Vera Zvonareva 6–0 3–6 6–4, 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open to Alona Bondarenko 3–6 6–2 6–3 and the 2010 Rogers Cup to Maria Kirilenko 6–0, 6–3. she broke this streak at the 2010 Pilot Pen Tennis by being a lucky loser and reaching the second round before losing to Caroline Wozniacki 6–4, 6–1.
Cibulková at the 2010 US Open.

At the 2010 US Open, Cibulková advanced to her second career Grand Slam quarterfinal after defeating Stefanie Vögele 6–2, 4–6, 7–5, Kateryna Bondarenko 6–2, 5–7, 7–6(7), Lourdes Domínguez Lino 6–0, 6–1, and 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 7–5, 7–6(4). She lost to the top seed Caroline Wozniacki 2–6, 5–7 in the quarterfinals.
2011

Cibulková began the year by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2011 Brisbane International, where she lost to Petra Kvitová, 6–0, 6–4. She then entered the 2011 Medibank International Sydney, where she pulled off the biggest upset of her young career, beating world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6–3, 6–3. She was defeated by Alisa Kleybanova in the third round, 6–3, 5–7, 6–2. In late June in London, Cibulková repeated the upset from Sydney by winning 1–6, 7–6, 7–5 against Wozniacki, and continued to the 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinals before losing to Maria Sharapova, 6–1, 6–1. She won her first WTA title, the Kremlin Cup, edging Kaia Kanepi 3–6, 7–6 (1), 7–5. Her win represents the first time a player has captured their maiden title at the Kremlin Cup.
2012

At her first tournament of the year, Cibulková was 4–0 in the third set against Caroline Wozniacki and she eventually lost the match. At the grand slam down under, she was seeded 17 and defeated Magdalena Rybarikova 6–3 6–1 in the first round. Cibulková then lost to Great Arn in an intesne match in the third round. The final score was 2–6 6–3 8–10. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Cibulková came close to beating world #1 Victoria Azarenka, leading her by a set and 5–2 before Azarenka prevailed 1–6 7–6 (7) 7–5. Cibulková then reached the finals of the Barcelona Open, losing to Sara Errani 6–2 6–2. At the French Open, Cibulková defeated No. 1 seed Azarenka 6-2 7-6 in the fourth round.
Fed Cup

She has played in the Fed Cup for the Slovak Republic four years in a row from 2005 to present, holding a 11–5 win-loss record in singles and a 1–7 record in doubles matches.

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