WTA Stunners - Dominika Cibulkova

Dominika Cibulkova

The 19 year old 5 foot 3 Bratislava resident, started 2008 at No. 52 in the world, but with a immpesive 39 match wins has shot all the way up to the Top 20. Despite her small physique, She has got as high as No.19 in August, and is currently No.17 in the WTA's Race to the Championships. Although she is still waiting for her maiden WTA Tour title Dominikas powerful hitting and court craft have made her a regular for the Slovak Republics Fed Cup team and seen her notch up wins against some of the worlds top players including Ana Ivanovic (Kremlin Cup) and Jelena Jankovic (Canadian Open).

Early Life

Dominika Cibulkova was born on May 6, 1989 in the spa town of Piešťany, Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia. Dominika was keen on a number of sports as a child including swimming and gymnastic. She started playing tennis at the age of eight at a tennis camp Bratislava but was originally discouraged form pursuing the sport as a career as many coaches believed she was too small. Despite this initial setback Dominika impressive displays in junior tournaments between 2002 and 2005 she rose to World No.3 in the junior level Rankings. Cibulková competed predominantly on the ITF circuit for the next year, and managed to win two tournaments. The first win came at the Amarante Tournament, Portugal in 2005 where she thrashed Spain’s Paula Fondevila Castro 6-0, 6-2 in a one sided final. The second victory came at the Bratislava event in 2006, where she was cheered on by the home crowd. Like her previous victory in Portugal she again won in straight sets (7-5, 6–1) on the hard court this time against Germany’s Kristina Barrois.

WTA Career

At Roland Garros in 2007 she successfully negotiated qualifying to make her Grand Slam main draw debut. In the second round she produced a stunning performance to upset the No.32 seed Martina Muller 6–3, 6–2 after beating Tiantian Sun 6–4, 6–4 in the first round. She eventually lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-3 in the third round. She also reached the third round in Amelia Island, beating Anabel Medina Garrigues but lost to fellow Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova. She followed this with a impressive run to the quarterfinals of the ECM Prague Open, beating Gisela Dulko before falling to Belarusian Victoria Azarenka. Cibulkova's best finish of the year came in September, when she exited at the semi final phase at the Guangzhou International Women's Open in China. She lost to eventual champion Virginie Razzano 3–6, 6–1, 6–1.

Cibulkova's first tournament of 2008 was the Tier III Australian Women's Hardcourts on Australian Gold Coast, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Victoria Azarenka. January also saw Dominika go 1-2 in Slovak Republic's 3-2 Fed Cup World Group II loss to Czech Republic. At the Qatar Total Open, in February, Cibulkova reached her first ever Tier I quarterfinal, overcoming former World No.1 Venus Williams in the third round 6–3, 6–3 before losing to sixteenth seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinals 6–4, 6–7(1), 6–4. In April, Cibulkova reached the final of a WTA Tour event for the first time at the Tier II clay court Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida. Unfortunately Cibulkova was unable to claim her first title losing in the final to the reigning Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova 7–6(7), 6–3. By far her best tournament to date came at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal. There Cibulkova defeated fifth seeded Elena Dementieva in the second round and Nadia Petrova in the third round. In the quarterfinals, Cibulkova defeated second seeded Jelena Janković, 7–5, 6–2, then defeated tenth-seeded Bartoli in the semi finals 4–6, 6–4, 6–3 but lost to seventh-seeded Dinara Safina in the final.

Dominika Cibulkova Links