"Dominika Cibulková"

Dominika Cibulková (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. She has won two career singles titles. 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 began playing tennis between the ages of seven and nine 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.

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.

Cibulková started her year with a win over Tara Iyer in the first round of the CANARA Bank Open, but lost to no. 4 seed Jelena Kostanić Tošić in the second round.

At the 2007 French Open she qualified and made her Grand Slam main draw debut, reaching the third round. In the second round she upset the No. 32 seed Martina Müller 6–3, 6–2 after beating Tiantian Sun 6–4, 6–4. She eventually lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova. She also reached the third round in Amelia Island, beating Anabel Medina Garrigues but losing to her countrywoman Daniela Hantuchová and the quarter-finals of the ECM Prague Open, beating Gisela Dulko before falling to Victoria Azarenka.

Cibulková's best finish of the year came in September, when she exited at the semi-final stage at the Guangzhou International Women's Open in China. She lost to eventual champion Virginie Razzano 3–6, 6–1, 6–1.

Dominika began the year at the 2009 Medibank International Sydney losing to Caroline Wozniacki 6–1 6–2 in the first round. At the 2009 Australian Open, Cibulková advanced to the fourth round after winning her first three set 6–0 before losing to Elena Dementieva. She then played at the 2009 Dubai Tennis Championships where she reached the third round losing to Elena Vesnina 4–6 6–1 4–0, retiring due to heat illness. She then lost in the second round and third round of 2009 BNP Paribas Open and 2009 Sony Ericsson Open.

At the start of the clay season, she began at the 2009 MPS Group Championships and 2009 Family Circle Cup losing to Russians Elena Vesnina and Elena Dementieva respectively. At the 2009 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix she lost to Jelena Janković in the first round. She then missed the 2009 Internazionali BNL d'Italia and 2009 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open due to a thigh injury

At the French Open, Cibulková was seeded 20th. She defeated Alona Bondarenko in the first round and dominated Kirsten Flipkens in the second round 6–1, 6–0. She then defeated Gisela Dulko to advance to the fourth round where she defeated Ágnes Szávay to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final. In the quarter-finals, she defeated Maria Sharapova in straight sets 6–0, 6–2. Cibulková was a match point away from beating Sharapova 6–0, 6–0. She lost 6–3, 6–3 to Dinara Safina in her first Grand Slam semi-final.

At the Wimbledon Championships, Cibulková was seeded 14th. She beat Julie Coin, in three sets, in the first round. She then beat Urszula Radwańska in the second round but eventually lost once again to Elena Vesnina 7–5 4–6 6–4 in the third round . She then competed at the 2009 Swedish Open were she reached the Quarterfinals before losing to Gisela Dulko 5–7, 6–3, 7–6(6).

Cibulková then recorded three straight loses in the first rounds of the 2009 Bank of the West Classic and the 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, and the second rounds of the 2009 LA Women's Tennis Championships after receiving a bye. She then lost to Alisa Kleybanova 6–1 4–6 7–6(4) in the second round of 2009 Rogers Cup. She withdrew from the 2009 Pilot Pen Tennis, the 2009 US Open, 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open, 2009 China Open, and the 2009 Generali Ladies Linz due to a rib injury. she then returned in the 2009 Kremlin Cup but lost to María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round.

Cibulková started the 2010 tour by reaching the quarterfinals of both the ASB Classic where she defeated Aravane Rezaï 6–3, 6–4 before losing to top seed Flavia Pennetta 6–1, 6–2 in the quarterfinals and the Medibank International defeating No. 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 7–5, 6–2 before losing to Victoria Azarenka 2–6, 6–2, 7–5. However at the Australian Open where she was seeded 23rd, Cibulková was upset by Vania King in the first round 6–3, 6–7(5), 7–5.

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.

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.

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.

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 Greta Arn in an intense 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 then-World No. 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. In June at the French Open, Cibulková upset World no. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6–2 7–6 in the fourth round.  She subsequently reached the quarter-finals for the second time, but lost to Samantha Stosur of Australia in straight sets, 6–1, 6–4. After the match, Cibulková claimed Stosur had "played like a man".

Her only Wimbledon warm up tournament was the 2012 Unicef Open, where she was the 3rd seed. She reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Nadia Petrova 6–2, 6–0. She lost in the first round at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships to Klara Zakopalova 6–4, 6–1. In the Stanford Classic,Dominika lost to Sorana Cirstea( 6–7 (5/7), 6–2, 6–0).

She defeated Marion Bartoli 6–1, 7–5 to win the 2012 Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, CA.

At the 2012 New Haven Open at Yale, she advanced to the quartfinals with straight set victories over Anabel Medina Garrigues and Andrea Petkovic. In the quarterfinals was routed by 4 time defending champion Caroline Wozniacki 2–6 1–6, thus ending her US Open preparation.

Cibulková started her 2012 US Open with a tough three set win over Sweden's Johanna Larsson in the first round 6–7 6–2 6–0. In the second round a tight straight sets battle ensued against Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski leading to 7–6 7–6 over the Serbian. However, Cibulková was outsed in the third round by Italian doubles star Roberta Vinci 2–6 5–7.

Cibulková later travelled to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to play an exhibition match against Victoria Azarenka, which she lost 2–6, 3–6.

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.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org