London: Five-times champion and second seed Venus Williams was stunned 6-2 6-3 by Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon on Tuesday.
Williams, whose loss meant she failed to reach the final for the first time since 2006, was outplayed from the outset by the world number 82 and went down in an hour and 25 minutes on Court One.
"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 saved two match points serving at 2-5 in the second set but Pironkova made no mistake on her own serve and sealed victory when a Williams forehand drifted wide.
She rolled onto her back in disbelief and covered her face with her hands before walking to the net after becoming the first Bulgarian woman to reach a grand slam semi-final since tennis turned professional.
Pironkova, the lowest ranked player left in the women's draw, will play either Belgium's Kim Clijsters or Russian Vera Zvonareva for a place in Saturday's final.
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