Moscow:
Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova beat top-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-0, 6-2 on Thursday in the second round of the Kremlin Cup, sending Jelena Jankovic to next week's season-ending WTA Championships.
Jankovic, who is five points ahead of Zvonareva, will fill the final berth at the tournament in Doha, Qatar, regardless of how she does at the Kremlin Cup.
Serena and Venus Williams, Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka have already qualified for the championships and are skipping the event in Moscow. Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland will go to Doha as alternates.
Jankovic was scheduled to play Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic later on Thursday.
The 126th-ranked Pironkova capitalized on Zvonareva's poor form in the first set, and an injury in the second. Trailing 3-2 on serve in the second set, Zvonareva called for a trainer to treat her knees, which had been taped all match. She lost the next three games.
"It wasn't easy at all to win today, though the score looks so impressive," Pironkova said. "I had no time to relax. I had to be there mentally and physically for all the entire match, fighting for every single point."
Pironkova's win was her second over a top-10 player. She beat then-No. 3 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the second round in Rome last season.
"She is a good player and I knew that," Zvonareva said. "It's very difficult to play against her. She moves perfectly on the court, can hit the ball hard and can vary her tempo. I'm not in my best shape now and to beat her today I should have played more attentively."
Zvonareva appeared to be relieved that she is done with tennis for the year.
"Maybe I'm even happy," the Russian said. "Finally I will have time to restore my health and start the new season in full strength."
The Bulgarian will next play Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine.
Earlier, Maria Kirilenko of Russia beat Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-4, 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Kirilenko will face eighth-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy, who defeated Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-2, 7-5.
"I'm really satisfied with my results this week," said Kirilenko, who eliminated the third-seeded Radwanska on Wednesday. "I think I'm in my best form this season now."
In the men's tournament, Robby Ginepri of the United States advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Marcel Granollers of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-0.
"It's very exciting for me to reach the quarterfinals, especially because I haven't got this far in a lot of tournaments this year," Ginepri said. "It was good that I could follow up the great win over Igor (Andreev) with a very solid match today."