Background and career
Dominika Cibulková (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈdɔminika ˈtsibulkɔʋaː]; born 6 May 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She is the 2016 WTA Finals champion, becoming the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 and Petra Kvitová in 2011) to win the tournament on her debut. She won eight WTA Tour singles titles and two on the ITF Circuit. Cibulková reached the quarterfinals or better of all four Grand Slam tournaments at least once. One of her most notable achievements was a final appearance at the 2014 Australian Open. Although she lost to Li Na, she was the first Slovak woman to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament.
Early in her career, Cibulková predominantly competed on the ITF Women's Circuit, and managed to win two tournaments: the Amarante event in Portugal in 2005, and the Bratislava event in 2006.
She started the season with a win over Tara Iyer in the first round of the Bangalore Open, but lost to No. 4 seed Jelena Kostanić Tošić in the second round. At the French Open, Cibulková qualified and made her Grand Slam main-draw debut, reaching the third round. In the second, she upset Martina Müller after beating Sun Tiantian but eventually lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova. She also reached the third round in Amelia Island, beating Anabel Medina Garrigues but losing to fellow Slovak Daniela Hantuchová, and the quarterfinals of the ECM Prague Open, beating Gisela Dulko before falling to Victoria Azarenka. Her best finish of the year came in September, when she exited at the semifinal stage at the Guangzhou International Open in China where she lost to eventual champion Virginie Razzano.
At the Australian Open, Cibulková lost in the first round to Flavia Pennetta. Playing for Slovakia in the first round of Fed Cup against the Czech Republic in Brno, she split her two singles matches as her country lost the tie 2–3. At the Qatar Ladies Open, Cibulková reached her first-ever Tier-I quarterfinal, defeating former world No. 1, Venus Williams, in the third round, before losing to Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinals. In April, Cibulková reached the final of a WTA Tour event for the first time. At the Tier-II clay-court Amelia Island Championships, she lost the final to Maria Sharapova. Cibulková was seeded 30th in singles at Wimbledon but lost in the first round to unseeded wildcard player and eventual semifinalist, Zheng Jie of China. She reached the third round of the women's singles at the 2008 Olympics. At the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Cibulková defeated second-seeded Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals and Marion Bartoli in the semifinals, but lost the final to seventh-seeded Dinara Safina.
At the Australian Open, Cibulková advanced to the fourth round and lost to Elena Dementieva. She began the clay-court season at the MPS Group Championships and Family Circle Cup, losing to Elena Vesnina and Elena Dementieva respectively. At the French Open, she was seeded 20th and defeated Alona Bondarenko, Kirsten Flipkens, Gisela Dulko, and Ágnes Szávay to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. She then defeated Maria Sharapova in straight sets, but lost to Dinara Safina in the semifinal. In this successful phase of her career, she worked with tennis coach Vladimír Pláteník and fitness coach Maroš Molnár from Slovakia. Seeded 14th at Wimbledon, she beat Julie Coin and Urszula Radwańska, but lost to Elena Vesnina in the third round. She then competed at the Swedish Open where she lost to Gisela Dulko in the quarterfinals. She withdrew from the US Open and several of the following hard-court tournaments due to a rib injury.
Cibulková started 2010 by reaching the quarterfinals of the Auckland Open where she lost to top seed Flavia Pennetta. At the Australian Open, where she was seeded 23rd, Cibulková was upset by Vania King in the first round. At the Monterrey Open, she was the fourth seed. Cibulková came from a set down to beat No. 5 seed Ágnes Szávay in the quarterfinals. She fell to No. 2 seed, Daniela Hantuchová, in three sets. At the Indian Wells Open she was upset by Sara Errani in the second round, after receiving a bye. She then played at the Rosmalen Open, losing her quarterfinal match to Kirsten Flipkens. At Wimbledon, where she upset Lucie Šafářová and Ayumi Morita, she lost in the third round to world No. 1, Serena Williams. At the US Open, Cibulková advanced to her second career major quarterfinal, after defeating Stefanie Vögele, 2009 quarterfinalist Kateryna Bondarenko, Lourdes Domínguez Lino, and 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. She lost to the top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals.
