LONDON, England - Last year, Tsvetana Pironkova made a splash at Wimbledon, becoming the first Bulgarian player to make the semifinals of a Grand Slam. That run would end in a three set loss to Vera Zvonareva - but Pironkova got herself some good old fashioned revenge on Friday afternoon.
Pironkova, who hadn't even won back-to-back matches since that sensational semifinal run last year, has come alive again at the very same tournament this year, continuing her run with a 62 63 stunner over the No.2-seeded Zvonareva on Court 2. She had very strong numbers - 16 winners to just five unforced errors - while Zvonareva was off her game, 16 winners and 18 unforced errors.
Right before she played Zvonareva in the semifinals last year, Pironkova pulled off a big upset over Venus Williams - and perhaps fittingly, she will next face Williams. The No.23-seeded five-time champion put together a dazzling display of grass court tennis to beat tricky Spaniard María José Martínez Sánchez, hitting 21 winners to just five errors to win comprehensively, 60 62.
"I felt like I was attacked enough in that second round match. I knew how she was going to play today, I've played her before on the grass, so I thought my best bet was to make sure I took the net away from her. It worked out really well," Williams said. "As long as I find a way to win that round, I'm good."
Williams actually trails Pironkova in their head-to-head, 2-1 - after winning their first meeting on clay, Williams has lost to Pironkova at two Grand Slams, the Aussie Open in 2006 and right here a year ago, in straight sets too.
"Last year, unfortunately I didn't play that well," Williams said of her 2010 match with Pironkova. "I don't feel I competed well. Regardless of how I play, I know I'll be competing this time. I'll bring my best game and my best competition."
Pironkova's wins over Williams here last year and Zvonareva here this year are two of her three career wins over Top 3 players - she also beat a No.3-ranked Ana Ivanovic at Rome in 2008, right before Ivanovic went on to win her first Grand Slam title at the French Open and rise to No.1 in the world.
Pironkova wasn't the only player pulling off an upset on Day 5 - Russia's Ksenia Pervak reached her first Grand Slam second week with a 64 76(2) win over No.11 seed Andrea Petkovic, and No.19 seed Yanina Wickmayer scored her first win in three meetings over a No.12-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, coming from a set down to reach her first Wimbledon second week, 46 63 64.
"I just had a black day," Petkovic said. "I didn't feel the ball at all and didn't move well. And when I started waking up, she played better in the important moments. I felt like the match would turn, but she played better than me."
Other players winning early on were No.8 seed Petra Kvitova, who took a step further towards returning to the semifinals with a 63 63 win over No.29 seed Roberta Vinci, and former Top 3 player Nadia Petrova, who won an all-unseeded battle with Kateryna Bondarenko, 63 62. Petrova, now down at No.37 in the world, fired eight aces to beat the Ukrainian in 66 minutes.
