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| The Olympic gold medallist is one of the true tournament favourites and thinks she’s a far better player than the one who reached the finals of the 2004 French and US Opens. The 27-year-old still believes that she can achieve her dreams of winning her first Slam and reaching the No. 1 ranking. She says she invites the pressure of being one of the most-talked about contenders and she certainly is now. | The 19-year-old from Bratislava is the obvious choice to replace Daniela Hantuchova as the Slovakian No. 1. Last year, the small yet determined baseliner reached her first two singles finals at Amelia Island and Montreal, scoring wins over Victoria Azarenka, Anna Chakvetadze, Amelie Mauresmo, Elena Dementieva, Jelena Jankovic and Marion Bartoli. She also owns a win over Venus Williams. The former girlfriend of Gael Monfils ended the year ranked No. 19. |
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| The Russian is in stellar form, winning back-to-back titles in Auckland and Sydney and battling through her first two matches here. She’s undefeated in 2009 and in the last round, overcame the crowd and an in-form Sam Stosur with some gutsy play. | The Slovak fell to Caroline Wozniacki in Sydney, but here has only dropped two games in her first two matches and in the third round out-fought the tough veteran Virginie Razzano 7-5 7-5. |
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| Extremely fast and a very effective offensive to defense player who can jump at forehands and hammer her backhand anyway she pleases. Her once mocked serve has improved a great deal and she enjoys long battles on centre courts like RLA. | Standing only 1.61 metres, Cibulkova had better be fast and she is, using her strong thighs to sprint to and fro with abandon. She has clean, well-struck groundstrokes, takes the ball on the rise and never gives up on a point. She’s the ultimate retriever. |
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| Dementieva realises this is a tricky contest and after her win over Stosur, praised the Slovakian’s relentless ground-stroking. Dementieva has to mix it up as much as possible so as not to give the teenager the rhythm that she likes. She also must attack her forehand side and try to get a leg up in her return games. She cannot afford to get nervous, as she knows this match is on her racquet. Experience, not self-doubt, will get her through this match. | The Slovakian doesn’t own tremendous variety and she’s not going to hit Dementieva off the court, so she has to commit to the long haul in points, just like she did in her win over the Russian in Montreal. However, when she gets the short ball, she must attack. All the pressure is on Dementieva in this match, so Cibulkova should be able to play freely. |
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| They split two matches last year, with Dementieva taking a long three-setter in Miami on hardcourts, and Cibulkova hitting around the Russian in a straight-set victory in Montreal. | |
