NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tsvetana Pironkova continued her dream run at the U.S. Open when the Bulgarian beat France’s Alize Cornet 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3 on Monday to move into the quarter-finals in New York for the first time in her career.
Playing in her first tournament in three years, Pironkova had beaten both twice Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza and 18th seed Donna Vekic in straight sets last week, and prevailed over Cornet in a battle of wits in a near-three hour contest.
The 32-year-old was at her aggressive best, looking to play quick points and she fired 46 winners past the Frenchwoman and won 21 points at the net.
Cornet mounted a comeback in the second set as fatigue started to set in for Pironkova, who failed to serve for the match twice but she was third time lucky in the final set when she sealed progress without a hitch.
Pironkova will play third seed Serena Williams in the quarter-finals in what will be a battle between two mothers.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
