TGG
19.06.2011, 12:25
Tsvetana Kirilova Pironkova (born 13 September 1987) is a female Bulgarian tennis player. She was born and lives in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Pironkova is right-handed and plays with a two-handed backhand.She achieved her career high of world no. 31 on September 13, 2010.She is currently the Bulgarian No. 1 and has won six ITF titles in her career.
She is best known for reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon 2010, defeating 5-time champion and former World No. 1 Venus Williams in the quarterfinals.
Early life and Junior career
Pironkova was born in 1987 to Kiril Enchev Pironkov, a former canoeing champion and Radosveta Chinkova Nikolova, a former swimming champion. She started playing tennis at the age of 4, when her father Kiril introduced her to the game. At the age of six, she started playing in junior tournaments in Bulgaria.[citation needed] Kiril later became her coach.
In 2001, Pironkova won the Atlantic Cup International Junior Tournament held in Bulgaria, and her career high in juniors was world no. 227 on March 25, 2002.
Professional career
ITF
In August 2002 at the age of 14, Pironkova played her first professional tournament at the $10,000 International Tennis Federation Tournament in Bucharest, Romania. Pironkova won 3 qualifying matches before reaching the final in the main draw, where she lost to Monica Niculescu of Romania, 6–1, 7–6(1).
In September 2002, Pironkova played in the $10,000 ITF event in Volos, Greece, where she lost only one set playing through the qualifying and main draw. She defeated Tina Schmassmann of Switzerland 7–6(3), 7–5 to win her first professional ITF event.
In 2003, she won three ITF singles titles: one in Orestiada, Greece and two in Istanbul.
WTA
2005–06
On the week of May 14–21, 2005, at the age of 17, Pironkova played in her first WTA level tournament, the Tier III event in Istanbul, Turkey. After winning two qualifying matches, Pironkova won three matches in the main draw before she lost in the semi-finals to Venus Williams.
In January 2006, Pironkova made headlines by defeating tenth-seed Venus Williams in the first round of the 2006 Australian Open by a score of 2–6, 6–0, 9–7.Pironkova was ranked 94th in the world. She lost to Laura Granville in the second round.
In the first round at Wimbledon, Pironkova came from a set down to defeat then top 20 player Anna-Lena Grönefeld 3–6, 6–3, 6–1. In the following round she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets.
On November 16, 2006, Pironkova reached her then career high singles ranking of 62.
2007
In 2007, Pironkova lost in the first rounds of the Australian Open, French Open, and at Wimbledon. She played in the qualifications of the US Open, and beat Zuzana Ondrášková, Marta Domachowska, and Stéphanie Dubois to reach the main draw. She drew Olga Puchkova from Russia in the first round. Pironkova won that match 6–3, 6–4 to set up a clash with world number 1, Justine Henin in the second round. Pironkova lost to Henin in straight sets 6–4, 6–0.
After the US Open in September 2007, Pironkova played in one of the biggest challenger events of the year in Bordeaux. Pironkova beat Mathilde Johansson, Tatjana Malek and Alizé Cornet all in straight sets to win.The win put her singles ranking back into the top 80 for the first time in several months.
2008
Pironkova made a solid start to 2008, winning 2 qualifying matches at the Tier II event in Sydney before bowing out in 3 tight sets to Dominika Cibulková. At the Australian Open, the 20 year old thrashed Olga Govortsova in the 1st round 6–1, 6–1. In round 2 she played second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Despite leading 5–2 and having set points in the 1st set, the Bulgarian eventually lost 7–6(0), 6–2.
At the Tier II Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp in February, Pironkova qualified for the loss of only 10 games in 3 matches, won her first round match for the loss of just two more, and then took a 7–6, 3–1 second-round lead over Belgian World No.1 Justine Henin before losing the match in three sets.
She caused another upset at the 2008 Rome Masters. As a qualifier, she beat top seed and world no. 3 Ana Ivanović in the second round for the biggest victory of her career so far. She advanced to the quarterfinals, her first ever at a Tier I event, when Victoria Azarenka retired during their third round match with Pironkova leading 6–1, 1–0. In the quarterfinals she was defeated 6–2, 3–6, 6–1 by Anna Chakvetadze.
In September, Pironkova reached the final in an ITF event in Sofia, where she lost to Nuria Llagostera Vives in the final 6–2, 6–3.
She ended the year at number 46 in the world.
2009
In 2009, she made the quarter finals in the 2009 Moorilla Hobart International before she lost to Virginie Razzano 6–4, 6–1. En route, she defeated then world no. 15 Patty Schnyder. It was her fifth top 20 win in her career.At the Australian Open she defeated Karolina Šprem in the first round 6–0, 6–4 before she lost to 16th seed Marion Bartoli 7–5, 6–2.
Seeded No. 8 at the first Andalucia Tennis Experience, Pironkova lost in the first round to Roberta Vinci 6–7(4), 6–2, 6–4.She lost in the first rounds of the French Open and Wimbledon, both times to Jill Craybas.
2010
Pironkova started the year with early-round losses in Australia – she lost to World no.67 and no.7 seed Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the qualifications in Sydney in three sets (5–7 in the third set) and the second round of Australian Open – after defeating unseeded Galina Voskoboeva with 6–4 6–4, she suffered a 6–1 6–4 loss to World no.28 Shahar Pe'er.
In February she fell to non-top 100 players Darya Kustova and Tamira Paszek in the qualies in Paris and Dubai (lost to Paszek after 5–7 in the third set; won the first set with 6–1 after leading 5–0).
In March she reached second rounds in Indian Wells and Miami after successful overcome of the pre-qualification draws (won 6–0 6–1 against no.6 seeded Ayumi Morita in Indian Wells; lost respectively to no.23 seeded Kleybanova and Wozniacki after winning the first set in both matches). Made first ITF Tour appearance of the year in $25,000 Fort Walton Beach (just between both Indian Wells and Miami tournaments), where she reached the semifinals (she won against fellow Bulgarian-native player Sesil Karatantcheva after 7–68 6–4; she's now 1–1 against her with both matches happening in $25,000 or lower ranked ITF tourneys).
Pironkova at US Open 2010
In April she fell in the second round of the qualifies in Barcelona she lost to Silvia Soler-Espinosa in two sets (it was her fourth non-top 100 loss of the year; has recorded 4 non-top 100 for the second consecutive year in a row; she would eventually record three more, which should be the second worst season after breaking into the elite according to losses after recording eight non-top 100 losses in 2009 and tied seven losses in 2007).In Stuttgart she lost to World no.7 Jelena Janković 2–6 2–6 after four consecutive wins against non-top 200 players in the qualies and the first round against Margalita Chakhnashvili; was worst loss versus Janković in their four meetings, after pushing to three sets in two of them and extending to 5–7 in the third in 2006 (again in Stuttgart).
In May she suffered early-round losses in the first round of qualifications in Rome and Madrid (won both opening sets against Poutchek and Brianti; was up 6–0 in the first set and 3–1 in the third; loss to World no.299 Brianti was worst loss since losing to World no.799 Katalin Marosi in 2008, which was also her second worst career loss).In Warsaw she reached her first quarterfinal of the year after defeating World no.5 Elena Dementieva in the second round (was fourth career Top 10 win and second career top 5 win) with 7–5 4–6 6–4 after overcoming three rounds of qualifications.She then lost to defending (and the eventual) champion Alexandra Dulgheru after 4–6 5–7.At the Roland Garross Pironkova lost to former World #1 and four-time French Open champion Justine Henin at the in the first round 4–6, 3–6.
Pironkova being welcomed at the Sofia Airport
In early June she suffered second round of qualifying loss to World no.344 and US Open Girl s Champion Heather Watson; it was her 7th non-top 100 loss of the year.Entering Wimbledon with a career 1–4 record at the event, she defeated Anna Lapushchenkova in the first round 6–0, 7–67. In the second round Pironkova beat former Wimbledon Girl's Champion Vera Dushevina 6–3, 6–4 to reach the third round of Wimbledon for the first time in her career. In the third round she defeated rising star Regina Kulikova 6–4 2–0 (ret.). She then defeated the former Wimbledon finalist and number 11 seed Marion Bartoli 6–4, 6–4 in the fourth round. In the quarterfinals, Pironkova shocked second seed and five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams 6–2, 6–3 to become the first Bulgarian to reach a semi-final of a Grand Slam tournament after Manuela Maleeva (although Maleeva was playing under the Swiss banner) achieved this feat at the US Open in 1992 and 1993. Pironkova was ranked eighty places lower than Williams, making this defeat for Williams her most lopsided in her time playing at Wimbledon. Pironkova was beaten 6–3 3–6 2–6 in her first grand slam semi-final by Vera Zvonareva, and her best performance thus far at Wimbledon. The Williams upset moved Pironkova to 35th in the WTA, her highest career ranking.
In July she reached the second round in Palermo after losing to Jill Craybas with 6–2 2–6 2–6; she's now 0–3 against then-ranked World no.110 Craybas.An explanation for such loss can be found in a light injury she suffered in the first set of her first match in Palermo. Due to the points won in Palermo she rose to no.34 the following week.Despite inactivity, she reached a career-high of world no.33 on 26 July after Safina dropped her points from Portorož.
Later in July she scored straight-sets victory over Tatjana Malek in Istanbul.However, she then recorded three consecutive losses, two of which to Anastasia Rodionova and one to Anna Lapushchenkova.
Just before the US Open, she was ranked no.34 in the World, but the to withdrawals of Serena Williams and Justine Henin, Pironkova became the first Bulgarian to be seeded at a Grand Slam since Magdalena Maleeva was seeded in the 2005 Wimbledon.As no.32 in the draw, she was projected to have a re-match of her Wimbledon quarterfinal against former World no.1 Venus Williams in the third round.After first round straight sets win to Renata Voráčová, she then lost to qualifier Mandy Minella, who had just scored her very first main draw victory.Later was revealed she suffered fever [19] and felt exhausted at the day of her match.
In the first round of Toray Pan Pacific Open, she defeated Japanese player Ayumi Morita, but lost in the second round to Italian qualifier Roberta Vinci.
In her first participation in the China Open, she lost her first round match against Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova.
In last tournament in the year in Moscow wins in first round over host qualifier Ksenia Pervak, and losses in second round to Dominika Cibulková.
She ended the year at number 35 in the world.
After the great season Tsvetana Pironkova won 5th place at the sportsman of the year ceremony in Bulgaria which is held every year and determines top 10 sport achievements. She was announced best athlete in her home city Plovdiv also.
2011
Tsvetana's first tournament of 2011 was in Moorilla Hobart International where she lost to Peng Shuai of China in first round.
In the Australian Open Pironkova won her first round match in straight sets against French player Pauline Parmentier, but fell the in second round to Romanian Monica Niculescu.
In the 2011 French Open Tsvetana was seeded 32nd. In the first round she defeated Australian wild card Casey Dellacqua with a score of 7-5 6-3. Tsvetana went on to lose to Gisela Dulko, the Argentine, in the second round.
She is best known for reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon 2010, defeating 5-time champion and former World No. 1 Venus Williams in the quarterfinals.
Early life and Junior career
Pironkova was born in 1987 to Kiril Enchev Pironkov, a former canoeing champion and Radosveta Chinkova Nikolova, a former swimming champion. She started playing tennis at the age of 4, when her father Kiril introduced her to the game. At the age of six, she started playing in junior tournaments in Bulgaria.[citation needed] Kiril later became her coach.
In 2001, Pironkova won the Atlantic Cup International Junior Tournament held in Bulgaria, and her career high in juniors was world no. 227 on March 25, 2002.
Professional career
ITF
In August 2002 at the age of 14, Pironkova played her first professional tournament at the $10,000 International Tennis Federation Tournament in Bucharest, Romania. Pironkova won 3 qualifying matches before reaching the final in the main draw, where she lost to Monica Niculescu of Romania, 6–1, 7–6(1).
In September 2002, Pironkova played in the $10,000 ITF event in Volos, Greece, where she lost only one set playing through the qualifying and main draw. She defeated Tina Schmassmann of Switzerland 7–6(3), 7–5 to win her first professional ITF event.
In 2003, she won three ITF singles titles: one in Orestiada, Greece and two in Istanbul.
WTA
2005–06
On the week of May 14–21, 2005, at the age of 17, Pironkova played in her first WTA level tournament, the Tier III event in Istanbul, Turkey. After winning two qualifying matches, Pironkova won three matches in the main draw before she lost in the semi-finals to Venus Williams.
In January 2006, Pironkova made headlines by defeating tenth-seed Venus Williams in the first round of the 2006 Australian Open by a score of 2–6, 6–0, 9–7.Pironkova was ranked 94th in the world. She lost to Laura Granville in the second round.
In the first round at Wimbledon, Pironkova came from a set down to defeat then top 20 player Anna-Lena Grönefeld 3–6, 6–3, 6–1. In the following round she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets.
On November 16, 2006, Pironkova reached her then career high singles ranking of 62.
2007
In 2007, Pironkova lost in the first rounds of the Australian Open, French Open, and at Wimbledon. She played in the qualifications of the US Open, and beat Zuzana Ondrášková, Marta Domachowska, and Stéphanie Dubois to reach the main draw. She drew Olga Puchkova from Russia in the first round. Pironkova won that match 6–3, 6–4 to set up a clash with world number 1, Justine Henin in the second round. Pironkova lost to Henin in straight sets 6–4, 6–0.
After the US Open in September 2007, Pironkova played in one of the biggest challenger events of the year in Bordeaux. Pironkova beat Mathilde Johansson, Tatjana Malek and Alizé Cornet all in straight sets to win.The win put her singles ranking back into the top 80 for the first time in several months.
2008
Pironkova made a solid start to 2008, winning 2 qualifying matches at the Tier II event in Sydney before bowing out in 3 tight sets to Dominika Cibulková. At the Australian Open, the 20 year old thrashed Olga Govortsova in the 1st round 6–1, 6–1. In round 2 she played second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Despite leading 5–2 and having set points in the 1st set, the Bulgarian eventually lost 7–6(0), 6–2.
At the Tier II Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp in February, Pironkova qualified for the loss of only 10 games in 3 matches, won her first round match for the loss of just two more, and then took a 7–6, 3–1 second-round lead over Belgian World No.1 Justine Henin before losing the match in three sets.
She caused another upset at the 2008 Rome Masters. As a qualifier, she beat top seed and world no. 3 Ana Ivanović in the second round for the biggest victory of her career so far. She advanced to the quarterfinals, her first ever at a Tier I event, when Victoria Azarenka retired during their third round match with Pironkova leading 6–1, 1–0. In the quarterfinals she was defeated 6–2, 3–6, 6–1 by Anna Chakvetadze.
In September, Pironkova reached the final in an ITF event in Sofia, where she lost to Nuria Llagostera Vives in the final 6–2, 6–3.
She ended the year at number 46 in the world.
2009
In 2009, she made the quarter finals in the 2009 Moorilla Hobart International before she lost to Virginie Razzano 6–4, 6–1. En route, she defeated then world no. 15 Patty Schnyder. It was her fifth top 20 win in her career.At the Australian Open she defeated Karolina Šprem in the first round 6–0, 6–4 before she lost to 16th seed Marion Bartoli 7–5, 6–2.
Seeded No. 8 at the first Andalucia Tennis Experience, Pironkova lost in the first round to Roberta Vinci 6–7(4), 6–2, 6–4.She lost in the first rounds of the French Open and Wimbledon, both times to Jill Craybas.
2010
Pironkova started the year with early-round losses in Australia – she lost to World no.67 and no.7 seed Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the qualifications in Sydney in three sets (5–7 in the third set) and the second round of Australian Open – after defeating unseeded Galina Voskoboeva with 6–4 6–4, she suffered a 6–1 6–4 loss to World no.28 Shahar Pe'er.
In February she fell to non-top 100 players Darya Kustova and Tamira Paszek in the qualies in Paris and Dubai (lost to Paszek after 5–7 in the third set; won the first set with 6–1 after leading 5–0).
In March she reached second rounds in Indian Wells and Miami after successful overcome of the pre-qualification draws (won 6–0 6–1 against no.6 seeded Ayumi Morita in Indian Wells; lost respectively to no.23 seeded Kleybanova and Wozniacki after winning the first set in both matches). Made first ITF Tour appearance of the year in $25,000 Fort Walton Beach (just between both Indian Wells and Miami tournaments), where she reached the semifinals (she won against fellow Bulgarian-native player Sesil Karatantcheva after 7–68 6–4; she's now 1–1 against her with both matches happening in $25,000 or lower ranked ITF tourneys).
Pironkova at US Open 2010
In April she fell in the second round of the qualifies in Barcelona she lost to Silvia Soler-Espinosa in two sets (it was her fourth non-top 100 loss of the year; has recorded 4 non-top 100 for the second consecutive year in a row; she would eventually record three more, which should be the second worst season after breaking into the elite according to losses after recording eight non-top 100 losses in 2009 and tied seven losses in 2007).In Stuttgart she lost to World no.7 Jelena Janković 2–6 2–6 after four consecutive wins against non-top 200 players in the qualies and the first round against Margalita Chakhnashvili; was worst loss versus Janković in their four meetings, after pushing to three sets in two of them and extending to 5–7 in the third in 2006 (again in Stuttgart).
In May she suffered early-round losses in the first round of qualifications in Rome and Madrid (won both opening sets against Poutchek and Brianti; was up 6–0 in the first set and 3–1 in the third; loss to World no.299 Brianti was worst loss since losing to World no.799 Katalin Marosi in 2008, which was also her second worst career loss).In Warsaw she reached her first quarterfinal of the year after defeating World no.5 Elena Dementieva in the second round (was fourth career Top 10 win and second career top 5 win) with 7–5 4–6 6–4 after overcoming three rounds of qualifications.She then lost to defending (and the eventual) champion Alexandra Dulgheru after 4–6 5–7.At the Roland Garross Pironkova lost to former World #1 and four-time French Open champion Justine Henin at the in the first round 4–6, 3–6.
Pironkova being welcomed at the Sofia Airport
In early June she suffered second round of qualifying loss to World no.344 and US Open Girl s Champion Heather Watson; it was her 7th non-top 100 loss of the year.Entering Wimbledon with a career 1–4 record at the event, she defeated Anna Lapushchenkova in the first round 6–0, 7–67. In the second round Pironkova beat former Wimbledon Girl's Champion Vera Dushevina 6–3, 6–4 to reach the third round of Wimbledon for the first time in her career. In the third round she defeated rising star Regina Kulikova 6–4 2–0 (ret.). She then defeated the former Wimbledon finalist and number 11 seed Marion Bartoli 6–4, 6–4 in the fourth round. In the quarterfinals, Pironkova shocked second seed and five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams 6–2, 6–3 to become the first Bulgarian to reach a semi-final of a Grand Slam tournament after Manuela Maleeva (although Maleeva was playing under the Swiss banner) achieved this feat at the US Open in 1992 and 1993. Pironkova was ranked eighty places lower than Williams, making this defeat for Williams her most lopsided in her time playing at Wimbledon. Pironkova was beaten 6–3 3–6 2–6 in her first grand slam semi-final by Vera Zvonareva, and her best performance thus far at Wimbledon. The Williams upset moved Pironkova to 35th in the WTA, her highest career ranking.
In July she reached the second round in Palermo after losing to Jill Craybas with 6–2 2–6 2–6; she's now 0–3 against then-ranked World no.110 Craybas.An explanation for such loss can be found in a light injury she suffered in the first set of her first match in Palermo. Due to the points won in Palermo she rose to no.34 the following week.Despite inactivity, she reached a career-high of world no.33 on 26 July after Safina dropped her points from Portorož.
Later in July she scored straight-sets victory over Tatjana Malek in Istanbul.However, she then recorded three consecutive losses, two of which to Anastasia Rodionova and one to Anna Lapushchenkova.
Just before the US Open, she was ranked no.34 in the World, but the to withdrawals of Serena Williams and Justine Henin, Pironkova became the first Bulgarian to be seeded at a Grand Slam since Magdalena Maleeva was seeded in the 2005 Wimbledon.As no.32 in the draw, she was projected to have a re-match of her Wimbledon quarterfinal against former World no.1 Venus Williams in the third round.After first round straight sets win to Renata Voráčová, she then lost to qualifier Mandy Minella, who had just scored her very first main draw victory.Later was revealed she suffered fever [19] and felt exhausted at the day of her match.
In the first round of Toray Pan Pacific Open, she defeated Japanese player Ayumi Morita, but lost in the second round to Italian qualifier Roberta Vinci.
In her first participation in the China Open, she lost her first round match against Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova.
In last tournament in the year in Moscow wins in first round over host qualifier Ksenia Pervak, and losses in second round to Dominika Cibulková.
She ended the year at number 35 in the world.
After the great season Tsvetana Pironkova won 5th place at the sportsman of the year ceremony in Bulgaria which is held every year and determines top 10 sport achievements. She was announced best athlete in her home city Plovdiv also.
2011
Tsvetana's first tournament of 2011 was in Moorilla Hobart International where she lost to Peng Shuai of China in first round.
In the Australian Open Pironkova won her first round match in straight sets against French player Pauline Parmentier, but fell the in second round to Romanian Monica Niculescu.
In the 2011 French Open Tsvetana was seeded 32nd. In the first round she defeated Australian wild card Casey Dellacqua with a score of 7-5 6-3. Tsvetana went on to lose to Gisela Dulko, the Argentine, in the second round.