Pironkova and Zvonareva aim for surprise spot in final

If there is anyone on earth who forecast that the women's semi-final line-up in the bottom half of the draw would comprise Tsvetana Pironkova against Vera Zvonareva, then not only are they cleverer than a clever person on Clever Day on Planet Clever, but in the immediate short term their plans should include buying several lottery tickets.

The appearance of Zvonareva is sufficiently outlandish, but at least she is ranked 21 and was No.5 early last year. Pironkova is No.82, has never been beyond the second round here, and has fallen in qualifying seven times so far in 2010, including on the grass of Eastbourne. She is the first woman from Bulgaria in the Open Era to reach the last four here, so it is little wonder there are no grass courts in her homeland of Bulgaria. The fact is that not only has she never won a grasscourt title, she has never won a title on any surface at all.

But while the 22-year-old may be an unfamiliar name to many, the fact that this is her 19th straight appearance in a Grand Slam main draw indicates that she is not without experience. Indeed, her most famous Slam result before this Wimbledon was beating a certain Venus Williams in the first round of the 2006 Australian Open. She has been ranked as high as 40 two summers ago, and she is projected to reach 35 by making this semi-final. She has also breached the one million dollar career prize money mark during this fortnight.

"I first played on grass five years ago at qualifying for Wimbledon," she recalled in charmingly fractured English. "Back then I thought, 'Wow. It's impossible. How can I play on this surface?' Wimbledon has always been like a religion to me. It is the first tournament, the oldest tournament. Growing up, every player is looking at Wimbledon. They say, 'One day I want to play there.' That's like a dream. I still cannot believe that I reached the semi-finals. This is truly like a dream to me."

Zvonareva's mindset having made the semi-finals is a little different. The Russian 25-year-old is coming back from an ankle injury which curtailed her season last year and required surgery in December. Her approach has been that hard work would eventually yield results, and now it has brought her the first Wimbledon semi-final of her career. She will be able to call on her semi-final experience from Australia last year, and the knowledge that she has one grasscourt title under belt, won at Birmingham in 2006. Moreover, she is a three-time Slam doubles champion. Her own singles ranking is guaranteed to rise at least to 11 as a result of her quarter-final win over Kim Clijsters.

"You always dream about it," she said. "I always believe in myself and believe I can be here. But when you go through a lot of injuries in your career, it puts a lot of doubts in your head. You lose a lot of confidence. I was frustrated that my injuries were not going away. But I knew it was just a matter of time. I believe that if you do that, you will achieve."

Intriguingly it turns out that Pironkova is not just a pesky opponent for Venus, but has some history with Zvonareva too. They played last year in Moscow and once again Pironkova not only won, but did so easily.

"She's an all-over-the-court player," says Zvonareva of the Bulgarian." It's hard to predict what she will do. Sometimes she can slice; sometimes she can hit the ball; sometimes she can play slow; sometimes fast. You never know what to expect, so you lose your rhythm. Then you start thinking too much. I know I will have to concentrate on myself and execute my game no matter what the score, no matter what she's trying to do."

Pironkova's memories of their encounter are of course very cheerful. "I made a convincing win," she smiles. "I played really well."

One more like that would suit her very well on Thursday. But it is difficult to believe Zvonareva will be quite so obliging this time, on such a big stage, with so great a prize at stake.