Tsvetana Pironkova is now 5 for 5 in sets @usopen.
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) September 5, 2020
Takes the 1st set 64 over 18th seed Donna Vekic.
More on Pironkova’s remarkable comeback to playing her 1st tournament in 3 years. #USOpenhttps://t.co/RSCbYhawqZ
This is her first WTA event in three years. Her excellent performances are arguably the biggest surprise of this year’s event in New York. After spending three years away from tennis on maternity leave, the Bulgarian, now 32, used a protected ranking to enter the US Open 2020.
🔹 Reaches 2010 Wimbledon SF
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2020
🔸 Becomes a mother in 2018
🔹 Returns to tennis in March
🔸 Into R4 with consecutive seeded wins
Take a bow, Tsvetana Pironkova! 🙌 🇧🇬 pic.twitter.com/27iDQtiudj
Many viewers may not have even noticed Pironkova was in the draw. And if they did, they probably expected her to go out in the first round. Or, at best, the second round. The odds were always against her.
In her first tournament since July 2017, Tsvetana Pironkova beats #24 Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-1 to reach the 2nd week at the #USOpen for only the second time in her career (1st time since 2012).
— Alex | Tennis 🎾 (@Alex_Boroch) September 5, 2020
Such an amazing story. She's playing unreal tennis, super solid, does look extremely fit! pic.twitter.com/CU65qioh0d
However, the Bulgarian has confounded expectations. She beat World No.120 Liudmila Samsonova in the first round. Then she shocked World No.16 Garbine Muguruza in the next round. Those wins earned Pironkova a third-round meeting with World No.24 Vekic, who reached the quarter-final at the US Open last year.
Credit to Pironkova for her performance today. Regardless of Muguruza's level, to go 27/29 on 1st serve points means something is clicking for you
— Alex Gruskin (@GreatShotPod) September 3, 2020
Was not one of the people who thought Muguruza could win this US Open, and truthfully not shocked to see her exit early in NY https://t.co/2kq1ptpR5p pic.twitter.com/Jn46s6JngP
