| schema:articleBody
| - Tsvetana Pironkova became the first member of the US Open's "Band of Mothers" to reach the third round on Thursday, shaking off rust accumulated during a three-year absence to have her first child to upset 10th seed Garbine Muguruza. The 32-year-old Bulgarian, who is playing in her first tournament since Wimbledon in 2017, is one of nine mothers who started in the singles draw in New York this week. Five of that nine -- Kim Clijsters, Vera Zvonareva, Tatjana Maria, Kateryna Bondarenko and Patricia Maria Tig -- have already been eliminated. But the unranked Pironkova made sure of her place in the last 32 after a confident display to defeat Muguruza, a former world number one and two-time major winner, 7-5, 6-3 in 1hr 25min. Pironkova could be joined in the third round later Thursday by fellow mums Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Olga Govortsova, who are all in action at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Pironkova, who gave birth to her son Alexander in April 2018, says motherhood has given her a new perspective on her tennis career. "Your priorities have nothing to do with what they did before," she said Thursday. "Nothing is the same really. Right now I'm just happy to be playing. Having the opportunity for him to watch me also makes me really happy. "I don't know how to really explain it. It's just great to be playing without that extra pressure that I had on my myself before. "Before it was like almost life-and-death situation for me to win a match. Right now it's not really like that. It's before all just enjoyment to be on the court." Pironkova believes successfully combining motherhood with the life of an elite tennis player requires planning and motivation. "It's definitely not easy," she said. "Obviously there's a lot of challenges, but they are priorities in the first place. That would always be my son and my family and their health and happiness. I would never make a compromise with that. "But if you make a good schedule, if you really have the right motivation, I guess you can combine the two things, motherhood and being a professional tennis player. "It's a lot of work, but everything takes work." Only three women -- Belgium's Clijsters and Australians Evonne Goolagong and Margaret Court -- have won Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era after having children. Pironkova, meanwhile, will now face Croatian 18th seed Donna Vekic in the third round. Vekic advanced to the last 32 on Thursday with a 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Romania's Tig, another of the US Open mothers group. Thursday's victory marks only the second time that Pironkova has reached the third round of the US Open in 12 appearances stretching back to 2005. Her best performance in a Grand Slam came in 2010, when she reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon. "I'm really, really happy to continue in the tournament and playing such players," Pironkova said of her US Open success. "Coming from three years of absence on the tour, you always have your doubts. Right now my results actually make me really happy because it shows that I did the right things preparing for this comeback. That makes me proud." rcw/dj
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)