Venus Williams Stunned at Wimbledon

Those who assumed the match between second seed Venus Williams and 22-year old Pironkova to actually turn out to be a mismatch were proved right – except that it was Venus who bit the dust.

Tsvetana Pironkova defeats the mighty William

The elder Williams sister succumbed to her heaviest defeat ever at Wimbledon, losing 2-6, 3-6 to a player who is 80 ranks below her. This was the first time the five-time champion had failed to make it to the finals since 2006.

Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova played the best game of life as she dumped out the more fancied Venus out in the quarter finals.

“It’s like a dream, coming here I never thought I’d play that well and come this far in the tournament,” Pironkova said.

“I think I played pretty well today, I’m very happy with my game.

“I have one win over her and thought I could win and I was going for it,” added the 22-year-old who scored a three-set win over Venus at the Australian Open four years ago.

Even Venus’s father Richard was compelled to applaud the inspiring Pironkova as she fell down in disbelief after beating Venus. Pironkova, who had previously never made it past the second round of a grand slam, became the first Bulgarian woman to reach a grand slam semi-final since tennis turned professional.

It became clear from the start that Williams was not going to have things all her own way. Pironkova sent her scampering around the court, matched her from the baseline and was comfortable varying the speed of her shots.

Williams’ powerful serve slowly deserted her. On several occasions she let the ball drop again after throwing it in the air and twice in the match served consecutive double faults.

Pironkova broke for a 4-2 lead in the first set when Williams, whose shrieks seemed to get louder as the pressure on her increased, put a backhand out.

At 5-2, two double faults helped put Williams at 40-0 down and although the 30-year-old was able to level the scores, Pironkova took the set with a lovely backhand down the line.

With Williams visibly lagging, Pironkova broke again in the sixth game when the American put a backhand out.

She made hard work of serving out the match, with one wayward effort landing closer to the baseline than the service line but was finally rewarded for her mammoth effort when Williams once again sprayed the ball wide.

Pironkova will play Russian Vera Zvonareva for a place in Saturday’s final.