For the second straight day, the No. 82 player in the world rankings has knocked a 2009 Wimbledon finalist out of the second week of the 2010 tournament.
Wimbledon: Tsvetana Pironkova Shocks No. 2 Venus Williams In Quarterfinal
A day after ATP No. 82 Lu Yen-Hsun upset No. 5 Andy Roddick on Day 7, WTA No. 82 Tsvetana Pironkova delivered an even bigger upset in the Ladies’ Singles, comprehensively beating No. 2 Venus Williams 6-2, 6-3 to make the Wimbledon semifinals.
Winning only five games in the match makes this the worst loss of Venus’ Wimbledon career.
Pironkova, 22, had shocked Venus at a major before, beating her in three sets in the first round of the 2006 Australian Open.
Pironkova gave the five-time Wimbledon champion fits with her variety, throwing in all sorts of junky forehand slices and chops that died short in the court, then following them with powerful, penetrating shots that left Williams guessing the entire way.
Venus hit 29 errors to only 6 for Pironkova, but a lot more of those errors were Pironkova’s doing than not. Venus struggled to dictate play or generate any pace, and once Pironkova sunk her teeth into a point she generally won it.
Pironkova, who had never before won more than one match in a row at a grand slam, has not lost a set so far at Wimbledon 2010 (10-0).
With the win, Pironkova becomes the first Bulgarian to reach the semifinals of a grand slam.
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