YOUNG Bulgarian tennis player Tzvetana Pironkova won the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) title in Rome, Italy, and took home $ 25000 of the total prize money.
In the final, the 17-year-old talent from Plovdiv defeated Magda Mihalke of Romania 7-5, 7-5 in a game that started on Sunday, April 10, but was later completed on Monday.
Pironkova is a recent addition to the Bulgarian national team, participating in the international "Federations Cup", and the trophy in Rome is by far the biggest achievement of her career. In the past three years as a professional tennis player, she won four titles in minor tournaments and reached the finals four more times.
The final between Pironkova and Mihalke started with the Romanian taking the opening three games in the first set. Play was suspended because of rain.
When the game was resumed in the late afternoon, Pironkova was able to strike back and turn things around, winning the opening set 7-5. She managed to pull off a decisive break of serve in the 11th game, and kept her nerves cool to get the job done in the next one.
It definitely was not Mihalke's day. She led 3-2 in the second set, when the match was interrupted once more by rain. The weather conditions got no better, so the final had to be resumed on the next day.
Pironkova was much more focused and consistent on Monday, winning five of the next seven games, coming away with a hard-fought, but deserved, 7-5, 7-5 victory.
The young Bulgarian currently occupies 249th place in WTA world rankings. She will get 31 more points for winning the title in Rome, and would most likely jump ahead by about 30 positions in next month's world rankings.
This year Pironkova has an outstanding record of 14 wins from 16 games in WTA tournaments. She had to face some tough opposition in order to reach the final in Rome.
In the first round of the tournament, Pironkova had to battle till the very end in order to defeat sixth-seeded Lucie Hradecka from the Czech Republic by 7-5, 1-6, 7-6, winning the tie-break in the decisive third set by 7-2.
In the next two games, Pironkova did not have much trouble defeating Stefania Kiepa from Italy, by 6-4, 6-2, and Dominika Nochiarova from Slovakia by 6-3, 6-2.
Before her semifinal match against Georgian Margalita Chahnashvilli, the official internet site of the Italian Tennis Federation said that Pironkova "has the potential of becoming one of the top 10 tennis players in the world."
The Bulgarian had a very tough game against Chahnashvilli, coming away with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory, before facing Mihalke in the final.
This week Pironkova was supposed to participate in another WTA tournament in Chivitavekia, where she was drawn in the first round against Virag Nemet from Hungary.
However, Pironkova declined to take part in this competition. Instead, she is to return to Bulgaria, where she will start to prepare with the national team for the forthcoming Federations Cup.
There were three other Bulgarian tennis players that were involved in the tournament in the Italian capital. Desislava Topalova disappointed with her performance, losing her second-round games both in the singles and in the doubles competition, while Dia Evtimova and Maria Penkova could not make their way through the qualification rounds.
Pironkova's road to the title
in Rome:

1st round: Pironkova def. Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7-2)
2nd round: Pironkova def. Stefania Kiepa (ITA) 6-4, 6-2

1/4-final: Pironkova def. Dominika Nochiarova (SVK) 6-3, 6-2.
1/2-final: Pironkova def. Margalita Chahnashvilli (GEO) 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
Final: Pironkova def. Magda Mihalke (RUM) 7-5, 7-5