Despite starting the season outside the top 50, Dominika Cibulkova will be the 12th seed at the US Open this year after a strong season so far.
No one will want to face the former Australian Open finalist in New York as she looks to go on another run in a Grand Slam tournament.
Notable results to date
Cibulkova has been in strong form this season, rising up the rankings after a heel injury disrupted her 2015 season.
She did, however, have a slow start to the season. She lost early in the Brisbane International, her opening tournament of the year, and also suffered early losses at the Australian Open and in Indian Wells and Miami. However, she pushed Garbine Muguruza (in Indian Wells) and Agnieszka Radwanska (in Miami) to extremely tight matches.
But these are generally the exceptions in her season. The signs were promising when she reached the semifinals in St. Petersburg, whilst she made the finals in Acapulco and at the Mutua Madrid Open. Between these, she won her first title in two years in Katowice, beating Camila Giorgi in the final.
After a tough loss to Carla Suarez Navarro in the third round of the French Open, Cibulkova went on to win the biggest title of her career at the Aegon International in Eastbourne, beating Karolina Pliskova in the final. Following that, she went on to make the quarterfinal at Wimbledon (her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 2015 Australian Open), beating Agnieszka Radwanska in the fourth round, before losing to Elena Vesnina.
Hard court results coming into Flushing Meadows
The Slovak started her US Open preparations at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, where she won the title back in 2013. Cibulkova beat both Urszula Radwanska and Misaki Doi in straight sets to reach the semifinals, before losing to eventual champion Johanna Konta in straight sets.
Cibulkova went on to the Rogers Cup. After an easy opening round win against Mariana Duque Marino, she struggled against Eugenie Bouchard; she won just two games due to an injury she suffered, and she was forced to withdraw from the Olympics because of it.
Following her recovery from injury, Cibulkova won one match at the Western & Southern Open, battling past Johanna Larsson from a set down, before losing to Timea Babos in three sets.
After her strong season, it’s fair to say that her US Open preparation was not ideal.
Best US Open run
Cibulkova’s best US Open run came way back in 2010 where, as an unseeded player, she made the last eight.
The Slovak survived a tough opener, edging past Stefanie Voegele in three sets, before having to battle once again to see off Kateryna Bondarenko 9-7 in the final set tie-break.
In contrast to her opening matches, Cibulkova was supremely comfortable in her third round match, conceding just one game to Lourdes Dominguez Lino. After that, she got her biggest win of the tournament as she upset 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in two tight sets to reach the last eight of a Grand Slam for just the second time in her career. In the quarterfinal, she fell to two-time finalist Caroline Wozniacki (who was the top seed) in straight sets.
How Cibulkova’s game translates to the surface
Cibulkova is an extremely aggressive player who likes to attack at almost every opportunity, and hard courts allow her to do this effectively. Furthermore, due to her diminutive stature, Cibulkova is able to defend well in New York as the courts are not too fast, giving her more time.