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Alona Bondarenko

Ukr
Residence: Kiev, Ukraine
DOB: August 13, 1984
Birthplace: Kryvyi Rig, Ukraine
Height: 5' 6" (1.68 m)
Weight: 130 lbs. (59 kg)
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Status: Pro (1999)
JANUARY - Won second Tour singles title at Hobart (as No.4 seed, d. top seed Medina Garrigues in SF and No.2 seed Peer in final); reached first Grand Slam 4r at Australian Open (as No.31 seed, d. No.8 seed Jankovic en route; l. to Zheng).

FEBRUARY - Went 1-1 in Ukraine's 4-1 Fed Cup World Group 1r loss to Italy; fell 1r at Dubai (l. to Petkovic in 3s).

MARCH - Dropped opener at Indian Wells (as No.20 seed w/1r bye, l. to Peng in 2r); dropped opener at Miami (as No.21 seed w/1r bye, l. to Dulko in 2r).

APRIL - Fell 1r at Ponte Vedra Beach (as No.2 seed, l. to Govortsova in 3s); reached 3r at Charleston (as No.9 seed, l. to No.7 seed Zvonareva); went 0-1 in Ukraine's 5-0 Fed Cup World Group Play-off loss to Australia.

MAY - Withdrew from Rome w/right knee injury; reached 3r at Madrid (d. No.2 seed Wozniacki en route; l. to No.13 seed Li); reached QF at Warsaw (as No.6 seed, l. to qualifier Arn in 3s); reached 3r at Roland Garros (as No.27 seed, l. to No.4 seed Jankovic).

JUNE - Reached 3r at Wimbledon (as No.28 seed, l. to No.4 seed Jankovic).
1999 - Played first events of career on ITF Circuit.

2000 - Continued to play on ITF Circuit, winning one doubles title.

2001 - Continued to play on ITF Circuit.

2002 - Played Tour qualifying four times; won one singles title on ITF Circuit.

2003 - Played first Tour main draws, at Bogotá and Pattaya City (l. 1r at both); fell in Tour qualifying 11 times (incl. all four Grand Slams); won one singles title and two doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2004 - Played one Tour main draw, reaching 2r at Bogotá; fell in Tour qualifying 12 times (incl. all four Grand Slams); won one singles title and three doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2005 - First Top 100 season; runner-up at Hyderabad (l. to Mirza in final); made Top 100 debut afterwards on February 14 (rose from No.102 to No.85); QF twice, at Pattaya City and Bali; made main draw debuts at all four Grand Slams, best result being 3r at Wimbledon.

2006 - First Top 40 season; won first Tour singles title at Luxembourg (d. Peschke 63 57 75 in SF after trailing 5-2 third set w/mp, then d. Schiavone in final); made Top 50 debut afterwards on October 2 (rose from No.62 to No.33); SF at Rabat (l. to Sucha); QF three times, at Hobart, Bangalore and Prague; best Grand Slam was 2r at US Open; won one Tour doubles title; won one singles title and one doubles title on ITF Circuit.

2007 - Best season to date, highlighted by runner-up finish at Warsaw (l. to Henin in final); SF at Istanbul (l. to Dementieva); QF five times, at Birmingham, 's-Hertogenbosch, New Haven, Zürich and Linz; best Grand Slams were 3r at Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open; won one singles title on ITF Circuit; made Top 30 debut on January 29 (after Australian Open; rose from No.34 to No.29); surpassed $1 million in career prize money earnings (first player representing Ukraine to do so).

2008 - Third straight Top 40 season; SF at 's-Hertogenbosch (l. to Tanasugarn); QF five times, at Amelia Island, Berlin, Strasbourg, Birmingham and Linz; reached 4r once, 3r once (US Open) and 2r 10 times (incl. Australian Open, Wimbledon, Olympics); fell 1r four times (incl. Roland Garros); made Top 20 debut on April 14 (after Amelia Island; rose from No.22 to No.19); spent three weeks in Top 20 (all at No.19, between April 14 and May 4) then fell out for rest of season; won second and third Tour doubles titles at Australian Open and Paris [Indoors] (both w/K.Bondarenko; second pair of sisters to win a Grand Slam doubles title - also Williams sisters); also reached SF at Olympics (l. to Williams/Williams, then l. to Yan/Zheng in bronze medal match); withdrew from Doha w/personal reasons; ret. during Wimbledon 2r w/right knee injury then withdrew from Stanford, Los Angeles and Stockholm w/same injury.

2009 - Fourth straight Top 40 season; runner-up once, at Warsaw (as No.8 seed, l. to qualifier Dulgheru in 3s in final); SF twice, at Budapest (as No.6 seed, l. to No.4 seed and eventual champion Szavay) and Moscow (d. No.5 seed Petrova en route; l. to No.8 seed and eventual champion Schiavone); QF twice, at Ponte Vedra Beach (as No.7 seed, l. to top seed Petrova 76 third set) and Madrid (d. No.6 seed Kuznetsova en route; l. to top seed and eventual champion Safina); reached 3r four times, at Australian Open (as No.31 seed, l. to No.8 seed Kuznetsova), Los Angeles (l. to Sharapova in 3s), Toronto (d. No.13 seed Bartoli en route; l. to No.2 seed S.Williams) and Beijing (l. to No.6 seed and eventual champion Kuznetsova in 3s); fell 1r or 2r 17 times, incl. Roland Garros (l. to No.20 seed Cibulkova in 3s in 1r), Wimbledon (l. to WC Baltacha in 3s in 1r), US Open (as No.30 seed, l. to Dulko in 2r) and Tokyo [Pan Pacific] (l. to Dushevina 16 75 61; led 61 50 w/3mp at 61 54); won fourth Tour doubles title at Prague (w/K.Bondarenko); member of Ukrainian Fed Cup team that d. Israel in World Group II (went 1-1) and Argentina 5-0 in World Group Play-off (went 2-0).
SINGLES
Winner (2): 2010 - Hobart; 2007 - ITF/Kharkov-UKR; 2006 - Luxembourg, ITF/Orange, CA-USA; 2004 - ITF/Bari-ITA; 2003 - ITF/Zhukovskiy-RUS; 2002 - ITF/Fontanafredda-ITA.
Finalist (3): 2009 - Warsaw; 2007 - Warsaw; 2005 - Hyderabad.

DOUBLES
Winner (4): 2009 - Prague (w/K.Bondarenko); 2008 - Australian Open, Paris [Indoors] (both w/K.Bondarenko); 2006 - Istanbul (w/Yakimova), ITF/Orange, CA-USA (w/K.Bondarenko); 2004 - ITF/Orbetello-ITA, ITF/Innsbruck-AUT, ITF/Batumi-GEO (all w/Fokina); 2003 - ITF/Warsaw 2-POL, ITF/Zhukovskiy-RUS (both w/V.Bondarenko); 2002 - ITF/Joue-les-Tours-FRA (w/V.Bondarenko); 1999 - ITF/Kedzierzyn-Kozle (w/V.Bondarenko).
Finalist (2): 2009 - Hobart, Budapest (both w/K.Bondarenko).

ADDITIONAL
Ukrainian Fed Cup Team, 2002, 2005, 2007-10; Ukrainian Olympic Team, 2008.
Coached by parents, Vladimir and Natalia; also coached by husband Nikolay Dyachok (married July 8, 2010) ... Introduced to tennis at age 5 by parents; has two sisters, Valeria and Kateryna (both play tennis, Kateryna also plays on Tour) ... Has one cat, Pers ... Speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English ... Enjoys Russian pop music and playing chess ... Likes reading books, music ... Enjoys visiting friends in Cherkasy, Ukraine.