Tsvetana Pironkova

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**Tszvetana Pironkova**

Country	Bulgaria
Residence	Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Date of birth	September 13, 1987
Place of birth	Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Height
Weight
Turned Pro
Retired	Still Playing
Plays	Right; two-handed backhand
Career Prize Money
Singles
Career record:
Career titles:
Highest ranking:	62 (November 13, 2006)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	2r (2006)
French Open	2r (2006)
Wimbledon	2r (2006)
U.S. Open	1r (2006)
Doubles
Career record:
Career titles:
Highest ranking:

Tszvetana Pironkova (Bulgarian: Цветана Пиронкова) (born 13 September 1987) is a female Bulgarian tennis player. She was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and resides there. Pironkova is right-handed and plays with a two-handed backhand.

Pironkova started playing tennis at the age of 4 when her father, Kiril Pironkov, introduced her to the game. At the age of six, she started playing in junior tournaments in Bulgaria.

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.

On the week of May 14 - May 21, 2005, at the age of 17, Pironkova played in her first WTA level tournament. This was 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 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 [1].

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