LONDON, England - It was a long wait, the fourth-longest in the Open Era, in fact, but Vera Zvonareva finally made it to her first Grand Slam final, beating Tsvetana Pironkova in the semifinals of Wimbledon, 36 63 62. Zvonareva, the No.21 seed, had pulled off several upsets en route to her second Grand Slam semifinal, including wins over No.4 seed Jelena Jankovic and No.8 seed Kim Clijsters. But Pironkova, who, at No.82 in the world, was one of the most unlikely semifinalists ever here, had her own string of upsets going, most notably ousting No.2 seed and five-time champion Venus Williams. Pironkova's streak of grass court genius continued through the first set against Zvonareva, as she mixed up forehand drives and slice with her huge backhand. But Zvonareva, who has been known to get emotional on the court, stayed tough and positive, hitting almost twice as many winners as errors through the second and third set (23-12) and ending it with an off-forehand into the corner. "It was one of my dreams to be out there on Centre Court, playing in the finals of Wimbledon," Zvonareva said. "I'm sure when the tournament finishes, I'll finally realize I was able to make the final and one of my dreams came true." "This was a huge experience for me," Pironkova said. "Reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon, it's a dream. Of course I wanted to go to the finals, but I guess that didn't happen this year. I learned a lot and now I'll work even harder." Zvonareva is competing in the 30th Grand Slam tournament of her career. The only three players who waited longer for their first Grand Slam finals were Zina Garrison (34), Francesca Schiavone (39) and Nathalie Tauziat (42). She had a slow start but Serena Williams followed Zvonareva into the final straight afterwards, beating Petra Kvitova, 76(5) 62. Kvitova came out on fire, breaking early and building a 4-2 first set lead - Williams was ready for the grind, however, breaking back and bursting out to a 4-0 lead in the tie-break, eventually closing that out and rolling through to her 16th Grand Slam final. Williams is 12-3 in Grand Slam finals, 3-2 here (winning in 2002, 2003 and 2009 and finishing runner-up in 2004 and 2008). She fired seven aces against Kvitova, bringing her tournament total to 80 - the most aces a woman has ever hit at Wimbledon, better than the previous record of 72 she set last year. Kvitova had taken out some big names en route to her first Grand Slam semi - Zheng Jie, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki - and saved five match points to beat Kaia Kanepi in the quarters. Even more awesome was the fact she had never won a match on grass until this tournament. But she lost to Williams handily in their only previous encounter, at the Aussie Open earlier this year, and didn't come good against the world No.1 this time either. Williams is 5-1 head-to-head against Zvonareva, but three of her wins have been in three sets, and they have never played each other on grass. "I obviously want Venus to do her best, but she wasn't able to get to the final. Vera did really well. She's playing excellent," Williams said. "It's tough playing a player like that, who doesn't really have one weakness and everything is pretty much a strength, from her forehand to her backhand to her movement. "In the final, you really want to play your best. I'm hoping to peak in the final." "Serena is a great player," Zvonareva said. "It's very difficult when she's serving well, but there are moments she doesn't make a first serve. I haven't seen anyone make 100% of first serves. You just have to take your chances then. "I remember I played a very good match against her in Cincinnati one year. It was a very, very tough one, but I was able to play the right way against her." Credit: www.sonyericssonwtatour.com