Irina-Camelia Begu

Irina-Camelia Begu

Full name	Irina-Camelia Begu
Country	Romania
Residence	Bucharest, Romania
Born	(1990-08-26) 26 August 1990 Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	2005
Retired	Active
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$946,199
Singles
Career record	204–124
Career titles	1 WTA, 8 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 38 (12 September 2011)
Current ranking	No. 118 (16 September 2013)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2013)
French Open	2R (2011, 2012)
Wimbledon	1R (2011, 2012, 2013)
US Open	2R (2012)
Doubles
Career record	150–76
Career titles	2 WTA, 17 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 35 (30 July 2012)
Current ranking	No. 55 (24 June 2013)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2012)
French Open	2R (2013)
Wimbledon	2R (2012)
US Open	2R (2011)
Last updated on: 24 June 2013.

Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a professional Romanian tennis player. On 12 September 2011, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of 38. Her highest doubles ranking of 35 was reached on 30 July 2012. She is coached by Marius Comănescu.^[1]

Biography

Irina Begu was born in Bucharest. Her mother, Steluţa, works for the Government of Romania, while her father Paul is an electrician. She has an older brother, Andrei.^[2]

She started playing tennis when she was 3 years old, her aunt Aura Wagner coached her and she is currently working with two coaches at a club in Bucharest.^[3] Her hobbies include shopping and going to the cinema with friends. She likes Melbourne and Paris, but her favorite city is New York.^[2]

Irina's favorite surface is clay, she admires Martina Hingis and Roger Federer and her goal is to become a top 10 player.^[2]

Professional career

2011

Irina lifted both the singles and the doubles trophies at 2011 Copa Bionaire and at the 2011 BCR Open Romania Ladies

Irina Begu started the year at No.234, never winning a main draw match at WTA level.

Begu won the first $100,000 ITF event of her career in February in Cali, defeating world No. 82 Laura Pous Tió in the final in straight sets.

In April, she entered the 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience as a qualifier and eventually made the qualifications without losing a set. Then she defeated Alberta Brianti 6–4, 6–1 in the first round and followed that up with a 7–5, 6–0 win over Estrella Cabeza Candela to advance to the quarterfinals. She made to the semifinals after she beat 34th-ranked Klára Zakopalová 6–3, 6–3. In the semifinal, she stunned world No. 14 and former world No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova 3–6, 7–6, 6–4 to reach her first WTA final, eventually losing to Victoria Azarenka in straight sets.^[4]

Begu neared her first ever WTA title, reaching her second final of the year in Budapest on 10 July. The Romanian played the semifinal more aggressive than the fifth seed Medina who allowed the youngster break her when counted the most. Irina had previously crashed another Spaniard Estrella Cabeza Candela 6–0, 6–3. Her first round have brought her a 6–4, 6–4 win over another Spanish player, Laura Pous Tió whom she defeated 6–4, 6–4, and a second straight similar win over Ajla Tomljanović of Croatia.^[5] She eventually lost the last act against Top-seeded Roberta Vinci, 4–6, 6–1, 4–6.^[6]

She posted in July the lone upset of second-round at the 2011 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo tournament in Italy, defeating second-seeded Roberta Vinci 6–4, 6–3, after eliminating another local in the first round, Maria Elena Camerin.^[7] Begu lost eventually to the fifth-seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarterfinals, who was also the winner of the competition.^[8]

In the same month, Irina-Camelia Begu won the 2011 BCR Open Romania Ladies title from Bucharest, after defeating the Spanish opponent Laura Pous Tió 6–3, 7–5, in the final. Begu has achieved her third consecutive win against Laura Pous Tió, in 2011, after the ones in Cali and Budapest. It was her fifth final of the year and her second trophy. The 50 WTA points allow Irina to enter the top 50 of best women players in the world, becoming also the highest ranked Romanian player.^[9]

2012

Irina-Camelia Begu, ranked World No. 96, won her opening match at the US Open, defeating the 8th seed, 2009 finalist and two-time semi-finalist Caroline Wozniacki. She won 6–2, 6–2. She subsequently lost to Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain in Round 2.

At the 2013 Wimbledon Championships

WTA career finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	10 April 2011	Andalucia Tennis Experience, Marbella, Spain	Clay	Victoria Azarenka	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	10 July 2011	Poli-Farbe Budapest Grand Prix, Budapest, Hungary	Clay	Roberta Vinci	4–6, 6–1, 4–6
Winner	1.	15 September 2012	Tashkent Open, Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Donna Vekić	6–4, 6–4

Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	14 January 2012	Moorilla Hobart International, Hobart, Australia	Hard	Monica Niculescu	Chuang Chia-jung Marina Erakovic	6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–4), [10–5]
Runner-up	1.	28 April 2012	Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Fes, Morocco	Clay	Alexandra Cadanțu	Petra Cetkovská Alexandra Panova	6–3, 6–7(5–7), [9–11]
Runner-up	2.	21 October 2012	BGL Luxembourg Open, Luxembourg, Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Monica Niculescu	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	3–6, 4–6
Winner	2.	21 June 2013	Topshelf Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Anabel Medina Garrigues	Dominika Cibulková Arantxa Parra Santonja	4–6, 7–6(7–3), [11–9]

Singles Performance Timeline

Doubles Performance Timeline

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 13 (8–5)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	10 September 2006	Bucharest 6, Romania	Clay	Alexandra Cadanţu	3–6, 6–2, 3–6
Winner	2.	9 September 2007	Braşov, Romania	Clay	Cristina Mitu	7–6(7–2), 6–2
Runner-up	3.	23 March 2008	Ain Sukhna, Egypt	Carpet	Katarzyna Piter	6–7(7–9), 4–6
Winner	4.	7 September 2008	Braşov, Romania	Clay	Diana Enache	4–6, 6–4, 6–1
Winner	5.	14 September 2008	Budapest, Hungary	Clay	Laura-Ioana Andrei	7–5, 6–1
Winner	6.	11 October 2008	Jounieh, Lebanon	Clay	Anastasia Yakimova	6–2, 6–0
Winner	7.	26 October 2008	Glasgow, Scotland	Hard	Patricia Mayr	2–6, 7–5, 7–6(7–1)
Runner-up	8.	11 April 2010	Incheon, South Korea	Hard	Lee Jin-A	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	9.	15 August 2010	Versmold, Germany	Clay	Magda Linette	2–6, 5–7
Winner	10.	19 September 2010	Podgorica, Montenegro	Clay	Annalisa Bona	6–1, 6–1
Winner	11.	13 February 2011	Cali, Colombia	Clay	Laura Pous Tió	6–3, 7–6(7–1)
Runner-up	12.	12 June 2011	Marseille, France	Clay	Pauline Parmentier	3–6, 2–6
Winner	13.	23 July 2011	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Laura Pous Tió	6–3, 7–5

Doubles: 24 (17–7)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	30 June 2006	Galaţi, Romania	Clay	Carmen-Raluca Ţibuleac	Bianca Bonifate Diana Gae	6–2, 7–5
Winner	2.	11 May 2007	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Simona Halep	Laura-Ioana Andrei Ioana Gaspar	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	3.	31 August 2007	Hunedoara, Romania	Clay	Laura-Ioana Andrei	Diana Enache Antonia-Xenia Tout	6–3, 4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	9 September 2007	Braşov, Romania	Clay	Diana Gae	Raluca Ciulei Camelia Hristea	5–7, 4–6
Runner-up	5.	15 June 2008	Craiova, Romania	Clay	Alexandra Damaschin	Laura-Ioana Andrei Diana Enache	3–6, 1–6
Winner	6.	11 July 2008	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Ioana Gaspar	Mihaela Bunea Gabriela Niculescu	4–6, 6–3, [10–3]
Winner	7.	25 July 2008	Hunedoara, Romania	Clay	Elora Dabija	Katarína Poljaková Zuzana Zlochová	7–5, 6–2
Winner	8.	29 August 2008	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Laura-Ioana Andrei	Lyudmyla Kichenok Nadiya Kichenok	6–2, 3–6, [10–6]
Winner	9.	5 September 2008	Braşov, Romania	Clay	Laura-Ioana Andrei	Bianca Hîncu Cristina Stancu	6–2, 6–2
Winner	10.	14 September 2008	Budapest, Hungary	Clay	Laura-Ioana Andrei	Davinia Lobbinger Efrat Mishor	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	11.	26 October 2008	Glasgow, Scotland	Hard	Laura-Ioana Andrei	Stefania Boffa Amanda Elliott	4–6, 6–7(3–7)
Winner	12.	9 May 2009	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Simona Halep	Julia Görges Sandra Klemenschits	2–6, 6–1, [12–10]
Winner	13.	10 April 2010	Incheon, South Korea	Hard	Erika Sema	Misaki Doi Junri Namigata	6–0, 7–6(10–8)
Runner-up	14.	18 July 2010	Darmstadt, Germany	Clay	Erika Sema	Vitalia Diatchenko Laura Siegemund	6–4, 1–6, [4–10]
Winner	15.	30 July 2010	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Elena Bogdan	María Irigoyen Florencia Molinero	6–1, 6–1
Winner	16.	8 August 2010	Hechingen, Germany	Clay	Anaïs Laurendon	Julia Schruff Erika Sema	6–2, 4–6, [10–8]
Winner	17.	18 September 2010	Podgorica, Montenegro	Clay	Mihaela Buzărnescu	Valeria Solovieva Maryna Zanevska	5–7, 7–5, [12–10]
Winner	18.	25 September 2010	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Elena Bogdan	Leticia Costas-Moreira Eva Fernández-Brugués	6–1, 6–3
Runner-up	19.	8 October 2010	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Elena Bogdan	Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino María-Teresa Torró-Flor	4–6, 5–7
Runner-up	20.	27 November 2010	Toyota, Japan	Carpet (i)	Mădălina Gojnea	Shuko Aoyama Rika Fujiwara	6–1, 3–6, [9–11]
Winner	21.	12 February 2011	Cali, Colombia	Clay	Elena Bogdan	Ekaterina Ivanova Kathrin Wörle	2–6, 7–6(8–6), [11–9]
Winner	22.	11 June 2011	Marseille, France	Clay	Nina Bratchikova	Laura-Ioana Andrei Mădălina Gojnea	6–2, 6–2
Winner	23.	22 July 2011	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Elena Bogdan	Maria Elena Camerin İpek Şenoğlu	6–7(1–7), 7–6(7–4), [16–14]
Winner	24.	21 July 2012	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Alizé Cornet	Elena Bogdan Raluca Olaru	6–2, 6–0

Awards

2011

• WTA Newcomer of The Year

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Irina-Camelia Begu.

• Irina-Camelia Begu at the Women's Tennis Association
• Irina-Camelia Begu at the International Tennis Federation
• Irina-Camelia Begu at the Fed Cup
• Irina-Camelia Begu activity at Tenis Romania website

Awards
Preceded by Petra Kvitová	WTA Newcomer of the Year 2011	Succeeded by Laura Robson

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top ten Romanian female singles tennis players as of 27 January 2014 1. Simona Halep (10 1) 2. Sorana Cîrstea (23 2) 3. Monica Niculescu (54 10) 4. Alexandra Cadanțu (63 3) 5. Irina-Camelia Begu (147 20) 6. Alexandra Dulgheru (157 6) 7. Andreea Mitu (179 1) 8. Cristina Dinu (216 5) 9. Ana Bogdan (305 5) 10. Laura-Ioana Andrei (338 2)

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top ten Romanian female doubles tennis players as of 13 January 2014 1. Monica Niculescu (51 9) 2. Irina-Camelia Begu (71 1) 3. Raluca Olaru (76 2) 4. Elena Bogdan (139 ) 5. Alexandra Cadanțu (199 3) 6. Laura-Ioana Andrei (210 2) 7. Cristina Dinu (222 ) 8. Alexandra Dulgheru (234 3) 9. Diana Buzean (307 4) 10. Andreea Mitu (335 4)