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Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgarian: Цветана Кирилова Пиронкова) 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. 40 on June 9, 2008. She is currently Bulgarian No. 1 and has won six ITF titles in her career.


Pironkova was born in 1987 to Kiril Pironkov, a former canoeing champion and Radosveta 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.



TF

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 - May 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.

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 Radwanska in straight sets.

On November 16, 2006, Pironkova reached her then career high singles ranking of 62.



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 biggest title of her career in terms of prizemoney[citation needed]. The win put her singles ranking back into the top 80 for the first time in several months[citation needed].

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 Sprem 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.