the doubles she partnered with sister Kateryna and they came in fourth place. She then reached the third round of the US Open, losing to Venus Williams. She then lost in the second rounds of Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and Zurich Open and the first round of Kremlin Cup to higher ranked players Jelena Janković, Venus Williams, and Katarina Srebotnik. She ended the year competing in the Generali Ladies Linz where she lost her quarterfinal match to Marion Bartoli. 2009 The first three months of the year Bondarenko made only one victory in three tournaments and no victories in the other three. However, she managed to reach the third round of the Australian Open, losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in a tight two-setter. At the MPS Group Championships, she reached her first quarterfinal of the year. In the first round, she defeated Sania Mirza 6–4, 6–3 to set up a clash with sister Kateryna. Alona came from a set down to win 4–6, 6–4, 6–3 before losing to Nadia Petrova in three sets. She then made it to the second round of Family Circle Cup and first round of the Italian Open. She then gave Ukraine two victories at the second week of the Fed Cup playoffs. At the Madrid Masters, Bondarenko defeated Kuznetsova in the second round and Anna Chakvetadze in the third before falling to world No. 1, Dinara Safina, in the quarterfinals. She defeated former world No. 1, Maria Sharapova, 6–2, 6–2 in the quarterfinals of the 2009 red clay event in Warsaw, and Anne Keothavong 6–2, 7–5 in the semifinals. She fell to Alexandra Dulgheru in the final, in three sets. At the French Open, Bondarenko fell to 20th seed Dominika Cibulková in the first round in three sets. She then performed badly at grass unable to duplicate her performance in the past two years, losing in the second round of the Rosmalen Open and first round of Wimbledon to Elena Baltacha. She then made it to her first semifinal since the 2007 İstanbul Cup, which was more than two years ago. She then lost to sister Kateryna 1–6, 3–6 in the first round of the ECM Prague Open breaking the tie between the two as she trails her sister 3–4 in head-to-head now. She then reached the third rounds of LA Championships, losing to Sharapova in three, and Rogers Cup, losing to Serena Williams. She then