EA91FB42-CEF7-4788-81D6-203AFF911FC8
By Richard Pagliaro
© Fred Mullane and Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA
(July 1, 2010) The tennis ball loomed as large as a medicine ball and Vera Zvonareva stepped up and smacked it with all the zeal of a woman finally finding a remedy for a career malady.
Tagged with a career-long label as a big-match choker that clung to her as tightly as a tattoo, the 21st-seeded Russian took the most monumental moment of her career on the rise.
Stepping inside the court, Zvonareva swatted an inside-out forehand winner to complete a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Tsvetana Pironkova today that propelled her to the Wimbledon final.
Contesting her 30th career Grand Slam tournament, finally a final for Zvonareva.
"I'm very excited. I'm not realizing it at the moment," said Zvonareva, who had never been beyond the Wimbledon fourth round until this year. "It is very exciting. It is one of my dreams to be out there."
Getting there required some problem solving against the 82nd-ranked Bulgarian, who shocked five-time champion Venus Williams in a straight-sets quarterfinal sweep and was bidding to become the first unseeded women's finalist in Wimbledon history when she took a one-set lead today.
"It was very tough out there. She's a very very tough opponent and she started so well," said Zvonareva. "I'm happy the way I was able to hang in the match and turn it around."
The 25-year-old Moscow native will face either defending champion Serena Williams or 62nd-ranked Czech Petra Kvitova in Saturday's final.
There was a time when major match pressure constricted Zvonareva like an emotional strait jacket as she dissolved in sobs and smashed rackets in past majors. As recently as last September, Zvonareva blew six match points in imploding in a painful loss to Flavia Pennetta at the 2009 US Open.
Forced to face a one-set deficit today, the woman who spends changeovers with a towel draped over her head to block out external distractions, found solutions from within
Playing deep drives down both lines to stretch Pironkova out, Zvonareva drew first blood in the final set, coaxing a backhand error that floated beyond the baseline to break for 1-0.
Two games later, a Pironkova drive was called out. Replay showed the shot nudged the back of the baseline, but Pironkova did not challenge and dropped to double break point. She erased both with a pair of well-constructed points. Zvonareva sent a return long and Pironkova attacked net behind an inside-out forehand, eliciting a backhand error to hold for 1-2.
A Zvonareva double faut followed by a sprayed forehand out her at 30-all. Zvonareva was nearly off the court when she hit a backhand down the line giving Pironkova a clear long look at a vast expanse of open court, but she netted a forehand as Zvonareva held for 3-1.
In her upset win over Williams, Pironkova had varied the spins and speeds of her forehand brilliantly, unsettling the World No. 2, but she lost a bit of faith in the forehand wing in the latter stages of this semifinal and sometimes ran around the forehand to strike her flatter backhand.
Grunting loudly as if releasing stress with every breath, Zvonareva pulled the string on a gorgeous backhand drop shot winner for deuce. Pironkova was in complete control of the next rally and worked her way to net, but Zvonareva repelled a series of biting backhands and spun a dipping cross court backhand pass for break point. When Pironkova lifted a backhand long, Zvonareva had a second break and a 4-1 lead.
Ghosts of past collapses could have haunted Zvonareva again as she fell into a double break point hole.
Not this time.
Peering out from beneath her white visor, she strung together four straight points and ran down a drop shot with a backhand winner down the line, holding for 5-1.
Zvonareva was four points from the final.
Down 0-30 in the fourth game of the second set, Pironkova pounded a serve winner down middle and followed with a backhand winner. Another service winner enabled Pironkova to dig out of the 0-30 hole and hold for 2-2.
Zvonareva applied pressure to the Pironkova serve again and finally cracked it. When Pironkova netted a flat backhand, Zvonareva had her first break point of the match.
Leaning low like a woman ducking beneath branches of a tree, Zvonareva blistered a backhand winner up the line to break for 4-2.
Serving to level the match, Zvonareva, who was solid on second serve all day, went for a bold second serve that clipped the back of the service line. Pironkova challenged the serve in vain and Zvonareva had double set point at 40-15. Firing a flat forehand that tripped off the top of the tape and plopped over on Pironkova's side of the court, Zvonareva was even at one set apiece.
