62 Facts About Tsvetana Pironkova

1. Tsvetana Pironkova's has had some of her best results on grass, a Wimbledon semi-final and quarter-final, which earned her the nickname "The Wimbledon Darkhorse".

2. Tsvetana Pironkova's prefers fast surfaces, with grass being her favourite.

3. In December, it was revealed Tsvetana Pironkova is expecting her first child with her husband, and gave birth to a son in April 2018.

4. Tsvetana Pironkova missed the rest of the 2017 season and finished No 162 in the world.

5. Tsvetana Pironkova's was unable to participate at the US Open, and it marked the end of her run of 49 Grand Slam appearances in a row.

6. Tsvetana Pironkova was sidelined from the US Open Series with a persistent shoulder injury.

7. Tsvetana Pironkova defeated Monica Niculescu in straight sets in her first match in the main draw, and then faced 2nd seed Simona Halep in the next round.

8. Tsvetana Pironkova's entered the qualifying round of the Aegon International Eastbourne, where she comfortably got better of the 10th seed Marketa Vondrousova in the opening round.

9. Tsvetana Pironkova's was en-route for another big upset having led with one set in the second round encounter against one the tournament favourites Elina Svitolina, who was the No 1 ranked player in the Race to Singapore standings, but eventually lost in three sets.

10. Tsvetana Pironkova entered the Australian Open as the 64th ranked player, and lost in three sets against the 3rd seeded Agnieszka Radwanska as her first round opponent.

11. Tsvetana Pironkova began her 2017 campaign with a second-round appearance at the Shenzhen Open, where lost to the 8th seed and eventual finalist Alison Riske, having beaten Galina Voskoboeva in her opening match.

12. Tsvetana Pironkova reached the second round of the US Open but was beaten by Johanna Konta in three sets.

13. Tsvetana Pironkova's faced Daria Kasatkina overcoming her in straight sets.

14. Tsvetana Pironkova's lost in the opening round to Laura Siegemund, and next played the Cincinnati Masters making her way to the second qualifying round by beating Kateryna Kozlova.

15. Tsvetana Pironkova's passed through the qualification rounds of the Birmingham event, and then in the second round the Bulgarian beat No 26, Irina-Camelia Begu to reach the quarterfinals, where she was eliminated by Barbora Strycova.

16. Tsvetana Pironkova's played the Apia International, where she received a wildcard to the main draw and reached the second round, beating Lesia Tsurenko before losing to No 8 seed Belinda Bencic.

17. Tsvetana Pironkova started the season with a loss to Samantha Crawford in Brisbane qualifying.

18. Tsvetana Pironkova's beat Margarita Gasparyan and Kurumi Nara, both in three sets, but lost to Urszula Radwanska in three sets in a tie-break in the final set.

19. Tsvetana Pironkova's reached second rounds in both Prague and Madrid, losing to top seeds Karolina Pliskova and Lucie Safarova, respectively.

20. Tsvetana Pironkova reached the third round of the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she beat Klara Koukalova and Peng Shuai, before losing to top seed world No 2, Simona Halep, in straight sets.

21. At the time, Tsvetana Pironkova was ranked No 67 and lost the points from her title.

22. Tsvetana Pironkova's began the season at the Brisbane International and lost her first-round match to 7th seed Carla Suarez Navarro.

23. Tsvetana Pironkova was awarded a wild card for the final tournament of the year, the Tournament of Champions.

24. Tsvetana Pironkova moved five places up the rankings after Miami, to No 42.

25. Tsvetana Pironkova's made it through the qualifying draw at the Apia International in Sydney.

26. Tsvetana Pironkova started the 2014 season ranked outside the top 100, at No 107.

27. Tsvetana Pironkova's had beaten Irina-Camelia Begu and 3rd seed Klara Koukalova in the round of 16.

28. At the US Open, Tsvetana Pironkova reached the third round of a Grand Slam besides Wimbledon for the first time.

29. Tsvetana Pironkova's reached the quarterfinals of the Swedish Open, losing to Polona Hercog.

30. At Wimbledon, Tsvetana Pironkova lost a second-round match to Maria Sharapova in three sets.

31. At the Brussels Open, Tsvetana Pironkova reached the quarterfinals, falling to Kaia Kanepi.

32. Tsvetana Pironkova's reached the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open, losing to Roberta Vinci.

33. Tsvetana Pironkova competed in the Qatar Total Open, recording a victory over Angelique Kerber in the second round, but losing to Marion Bartoli in the third.

34. Tsvetana Pironkova began 2012 representing Bulgaria at the Hopman Cup losing to Petra Kvitova.

35. At the US Open, Tsvetana Pironkova lost in the second round to qualifier Mandy Minella.

36. Tsvetana Pironkova reached the second round in Palermo, beating Italian Anna Floris, before losing to Jill Craybas.

37. Tsvetana Pironkova's made her first ITF Tour appearance of the year in the Fort Walton Beach tournament, where she reached the semifinals.

38. Tsvetana Pironkova bowed out of the Australian Open with a straight sets second-round loss to the world No 28, Shahar Pe'er of Israel, after having beaten Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan in the opening match.

39. Tsvetana Pironkova played her last tournament of the season Kremlin Cup, Moscow where she came up with better performance reaching the quarterfinals defeating top seeded Vera Zvonareva in round of 16 before losing out to Alona Bondarenko.

40. Tsvetana Pironkova won four matches at Stuttgart but lost to Agnieszka Radwanska in the round of 16.

41. Tsvetana Pironkova kicked off her 2009 season playing at Brisbane where she lost in second round to Italy's Sara Errani, she made the quarterfinals at the Moorilla Hobart International before she lost to Virginie Razzano.

42. Tsvetana Pironkova ended the year ranked No 46 in the world, marking her first ever top-50 season.

43. Tsvetana Pironkova advanced to the quarterfinals, her first ever at a Tier-I event, when Victoria Azarenka retired during their third round match with Pironkova leading, but, was defeated in three sets by Anna Chakvetadze.

44. Tsvetana Pironkova caused another upset at the Rome Masters, when as a qualifier, she beat top seed and world No 3, Ana Ivanovic, in the second round for the biggest victory of her career at that time.

45. Tsvetana Pironkova's reached the second round of the Australian Open, losing to 2nd-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets.

46. Tsvetana Pironkova made a solid start to 2008, winning two qualifying matches at the Tier II event in Sydney before bowing out in three sets to Dominika Cibulkova.

47. On 16 November 2006, Tsvetana Pironkova reached a career-high singles ranking of 62.

48. In 2003, Tsvetana Pironkova won three ITF singles titles, one in Orestiada and two in Istanbul.

49. In September 2002, Tsvetana Pironkova played in Volos, Greece, where she lost only one set playing through the qualifying and main draw.

50. Tsvetana Pironkova's won three matches in the qualifying draw, before reaching the final in the main draw, where she lost to Monica Niculescu.

51. Tsvetana Pironkova played her first professional match at a 2002 ITF tournament in Bucharest at the age of 14.

52. Tsvetana Pironkova won the 2001 Atlantic Cup International Junior Tournament held in Bulgaria, and her career-high in juniors was world No 227 in March 2002.

53. In December 2017, it was rumoured that Tsvetana Pironkova was expecting her first child with Mirchev.

54. Tsvetana Pironkova's married her long-time boyfriend Mikhail Mirchev, a former Bulgarian football player, in July 2016.

55. Tsvetana Pironkova has named German Steffi Graff and the Williams sisters as her inspiration during her formative years.

56. Tsvetana Pironkova's has one brother, Encho, and one sister, Elisaveta.

57. Tsvetana Pironkova was born 1987 to athlete parents; her father Kiril Enchev Pironkov is a former canoeing champion, and her mother Radosveta Chinkova Nikolova is a former swimmer.

58. Tsvetana Pironkova's holds one of the longest streak of the most consecutive Grand Slam appearances at 47.

59. Tsvetana Pironkova won her first WTA title at the 2014 Apia International, defeating three top-10 ranked players in a row.

60. Tsvetana Pironkova's garnered wide recognition for her performance, and after her semifinal finish reached her highest singles ranking at No 31 in September 2010.

61. Tsvetana Pironkova's made her WTA Tour debut at the Istanbul Cup in 2005, and achieved moderate success earlier in her career.

62. Tsvetana Pironkova's was the highest ranked Bulgarian tennis player for more than a decade and is the country's most successful player in the history of the Fed Cup.