| BACKGROUND |
| Dominika Cibulkova is going from strength to strength. At 20 years old, the Slovak climbed to No16 in the world rankings in March 2009. After reaching the last sixteen at the Australian Open, the player from Bratislava is looking to make her mark in this, her third French Open. | Twenty-four-year-old Alona Bondarenko was definitely one unseeded player to avoid in the main draw. For three years now, the Ukrainian has been circling around 30th place in world rankings. |
| CURRENT FORM |
| Cibulkova comes into this year’s Roland Garros clouded by uncertainty. The No19 world-ranked player suffered a groin strain in April and was forced to retire hurt in Charleston against Elena Dementieva. She was able to battle through the Fed Cup playoff against France and played in Stuttgart as well, but then incurred a thigh injury that has kept her off the tour until now. | Bondarenko, on the other hand, is fighting fit and bang on form. After a quarter-final loss in Madrid she made it all the way to the final in Warsaw, taking such scalps as Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova along the way. |
| STRENGTHS |
| Dominika Cibulkova is a real fighter. Her energy and rapid footwork leave her free to control the game with her favourite weapon; her flat forehand. | World No28 Bondarenko is also very mobile around the court and takes no prisoners with her powerful groundstrokes. She is not one to give away cheap points. |
| TACTICS |
| For Cibulkova, everything depends on the condition of her thigh. If she is not hindered physically, she should be able to impose her hard hitting game and use it to power past Bondarenko. | Providing she is not too tired after her final in Warsaw last Saturday, Bondarenko has the reliability and self-belief needed to do some serious damage to Cibulkova’s game. |
| HEAD-TO-HEAD |
| Dominika Cibulkova has the advantage of having beaten Bondarenko on clay in their one and only head-to-head last year in Berlin. | Alona Bondarenko may have lost her first battle with Cibulkova, but the match was by no means one-way traffic (6-4, 1-6, 7-6 then 9-7 in the tie-breaker). She has every reason to believe she is in with a good chance of beating the world No19. |
Dominika Cibulkova
Alona Bondarenko
