Tennis:Five-time champion and second seed Venus Williams lost to Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon this afternoon. Williams was outplayed from the outset by the world number 82 as she lost in straight sets (6-2, 6-3).
For a stunned Williams it was her biggest loss at the All England Club since her debut in 1997 and was the first time since 2006 the American had failed to make the final here.
Those who had feared a mis-match between world number two Williams and Pironkova, ranked 80 places below her, were quickly proved wrong as the Bulgarian produced an inspired display, returning practically everything her opponent could fire at her.
"It's like a dream, coming here I never thought I'd play that well and come this far in the tournament," Pironkova said. "I think I played pretty well today, I'm very happy with my game.
"I have one win over her and thought I could win and I was going for it," said the 22-year-old who scored a three-set win over Venus at the Australian Open four years ago.
Williams had saved two match points serving at 5-2 down but defeat for the out-of-sorts American seemed inevitable and Pironkova sealed victory when a forehand volley drifted wide.
As Pironkova rolled on to her back in disbelief, the delighted Court One crowd leapt to their feet and erupted in cheers. Even Williams' father Richard felt compelled to applaud her performance.
Pironkova, who had previously never made it past the second round of a grand slam, became the first Bulgarian woman to reach a grand slam semi-final since tennis turned professional.
She will play Russian Vera Zvonareva for a place in Saturday's final.
There were no such problems for Serena Williams, who powered her way into a seventh semi-final with a hugely impressive 7-5 6-3 victory over Li Na.
Li put up a brave challenge but Williams was simply too strong, especially on serve, where she blasted 11 aces, and three breaks in the second set proved more than enough, despite a late rally from the Chinese player.
But eighth seed Kim Clijsters also fell at the quarter final stage as the Belgian succumbed 3-6 6-4 6-2 to Vera Zvonareva in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Tuesday through a combination of her flawed serving and the Russian's tenacity.
Clijsters, who last year became the first unranked woman to win the US Open after taking time out to have a daughter, eased through the first set on Centre Court with a break in the eighth game.
Zvonareva, the 21st seed who will play in the semi-finals of a grand slam tournament for only the second time, broke back to hold a 5-3 lead in the second.
Clijsters responded with a break of her own with the help of two points when the ball hit the top of the net and trickled over but then double-faulted twice in the next game to let Zvonareva back into the match.
Zvonareva, hitting her backhand with ferocious intent, broke Clijsters in the fourth game of the final set and took the match on the Belgian's serve after another double fault.
"I'm so excited about the match, definitely one of my dreams to be playing here in the semi-final," an elated Zvonareva said in a courtside interview.
Clijsters, who missed the French Open this year after injuring her left foot in a Fed Cup contest, said she had given Zvonareva too many opportunities.
"I just didn't produce on the important points," she told a news conference. "A couple of times I had chances just to break back into it but she served very well on the important points.
"She hits the ball really hard, flat and deep. Her backhand is definitely her stronger shot and it's very hard to read the shot especially when she goes down the line."