Irina Spîrlea

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Irina Spîrlea
Country  Romania
Residence Rome, Italy
Born (1974-03-26) 26 March 1974
Bucharest, Romania
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro 1990
Retired 2000
Plays Right-handed
Prize money $2,652,068
Singles
Career record 291–189
Career titles 4 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking No. 7 (13 October 1997)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open QF (1997)
French Open 4R (1994, 1996, 1997)
Wimbledon 4R (1997, 1998)
US Open SF (1997)
Doubles
Career record 200–154
Career titles 6 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking No. 16 (2 October 1995)

Irina Spîrlea (born 26 March 1974 in Bucharest) is a former tennis player from Romania, who turned professional in 1990. She won four singles and six doubles titles during her career. The right-hander reached her highest individual ranking on the WTA Tour on October 13, 1997, when she became number 7 in the world. She retired in 2000.

Personal life

Spîrlea married her former coach, Italian Massimiliano Pace, in 2001, and has a son born in 2002.[1]

Controversies

In 1996 Spîrlea became the first player in the history of the Women's Tennis Association to receive a match default for conduct[2] when she swore at an official in "gutter Italian" during a match played in Palermo, Italy.[3]

Spîrlea is known for a bumping incident with Venus Williams during a changeover in the semifinals of the 1997 US Open. Spîrlea collided with Williams near the net post while changing ends, claiming that Venus Williams was arrogant and didn't move. Spîrlea went on to lose the match 6–7, 6–4, 6–7 in a third-set tiebreak, after holding two match points, at 6–4 and 6–5 in the tie breaker. Williams' father blamed Spîrlea's racism as the cause of the collision and later called her an "ugly, white turkey".[4] Spîrlea cited Williams' arrogance, saying in a press conference following the match, "I'm not going to move. She never tries to turn"[5] and "She thinks she's the (expletive) Venus Williams."[4] Williams however shrugged off the confrontation saying "I thought we both weren't looking. I'm sorry she feels that way. It's not a big thing to me. No one said 'Excuse me'.[6]

WTA Tour Finals

Singles: 10 (4–6)

Winner — Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
WTA Tour Championships (0–0)
Tier I (0–2)
Tier II (1–0)
Tier III, IV & V / International (3–4)
Titles by Surface
Hard (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Clay (4–3)
Carpet (0–1)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 27 September 1993 Sapporo Carpet (I) United States Linda Wild 4–6, 3–6
Runner-up 2. 25 April 1994 Taranto Clay France Julie Halard-Decugis 2–6, 3–6
Winner 1. 4 July 1994 Palermo Clay Netherlands Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 6–4, 1–6, 7–6(7–5)
Runner-up 3. 2 January 1995 Jakarta Hard Germany Sabine Hack 6–2, 6–7(6–8), 4–6
Winner 2. 10 July 1995 Palermo Clay Germany Sabine Hack 7–6(7–1), 6–2
Winner 3. 8 April 1996 Amelia Island Clay France Mary Pierce 6–7(7–9), 6–4, 6–3
Runner-up 4. 3 March 1997 Indian Wells Hard United States Lindsay Davenport 2–6, 1–6
Runner-up 5. 30 March 1998 Hilton Head Island Clay South Africa Amanda Coetzer 3–6, 4–6
Winner 4. 18 May 1998 Strasbourg Clay France Julie Halard-Decugis 7–6(7–5), 6–3
Runner-up 6. 19 April 1999 Cairo Clay Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 1–6, 0–6

Doubles: 13 (6–7)

Winner — Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
WTA Tour Championships (0–0)
Tier I (1–1)
Tier II (2–2)
Tier III, IV & V / International (3–4)
Titles by Surface
Hard (1–1)
Grass (0–0)
Clay (2–3)
Carpet (3–3)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner 1. 25 April 1994 Taranto Clay France Noëlle van Lottum Italy Sandra Cecchini
France Isabelle Demongeot		 6–3, 2–6, 6–1
Winner 2. 2 January 1995 Jakarta Hard Germany Claudia Porwik Belgium Laurence Courtois
Belgium Nancy Feber		 6–2, 6–3
Runner-up 1 24 April 1995 Zagreb Clay Italy Laura Golarsa Argentina Mercedes Paz
Canada Rene Simpson		 5–7, 2–6
Runner-up 2. 29 January 1996 Tokyo Carpet (I) South Africa Mariaan de Swardt United States Gigi Fernández
Belarus Natasha Zvereva		 6–7(7–9), 3–6
Winner 3. 6 May 1996 Rome Clay Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario United States Gigi Fernández
Switzerland Martina Hingis		 6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up 3. 4 November 1996 Oakland Carpet (I) France Nathalie Tauziat United States Lindsay Davenport
United States Mary Joe Fernández		 1–6, 3–6
Runner-up 4. 19 May 1997 Madrid Clay Argentina Inés Gorrochategui United States Mary Joe Fernández
Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario		 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up 5. 2 November 1998 Leipzig Carpet (I) Netherlands Manon Bollegraf Russia Elena Likhovtseva
Japan Ai Sugiyama		 3–6, 7–6(7–2), 1–6
Runner-up 6. 4 January 1999 Gold Coast Hard Australia Kristine Kunce United States Corina Morariu
Latvia Larisa Neiland		 3–6, 3–6
Winner 4. 22 February 1999 Paris Carpet (I) Netherlands Caroline Vis Russia Elena Likhovtseva
Japan Ai Sugiyama		 7–5, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up 7. 19 April 1999 Cairo Clay Netherlands Caroline Vis Belgium Laurence Courtois
Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario		 7–5, 1–6, 6–7(7–9)
Winner 5. 20 September 1999 Luxembourg Carpet (I) Netherlands Caroline Vis Slovenia Tina Križan
Slovenia Katarina Srebotnik		 6–1, 6–2
Winner 6. 25 October 1999 Linz Carpet (I) Netherlands Caroline Vis Slovenia Tina Križan
Latvia Larisa Neiland		 6–4, 6–3

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament19901991199219931994199519961997199819992000SRW–LW%
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A A A A 1R 4R 2R QF 1R 1R 1R 0 / 7 8–7 53%
French Open A A 1R A 4R 3R 4R 4R 1R 3R 1R 0 / 8 13–8 62%
Wimbledon A A A A 2R 3R 2R 4R 4R 1R 1R 0 / 7 10–7 59%
US Open A A Q1 A 1R 1R 3R SF 4R 3R A 0 / 6 12–6 67%
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 4–4 7–4 7–4 15–4 6–4 4–4 0–3 0 / 28 43–28 61%
Year-End Championships
Tour Championships A A A A A A 1R SF SF A A 0 / 3 4–3 57%
Tier I Tournaments
Tokyo Tier II A A A 2R 2R QF A A 0 / 3 4–3 57%
Chicago A Tier II Not Held 0 / 0 0–0 0%
Boca Raton Tier II A A Tier II Not Held 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Indian Wells Tier II F 3R 2R 2R 0 / 5 8–5 62%
Miami A A A A 1R 2R QF QF 2R 2R 2R 0 / 7 8–7 53%
Charleston A A A A 1R 3R QF 3R F 2R A 0 / 6 11–6 65%
Berlin A A A A A SF A 3R QF 1R 1F 0 / 5 7–5 58%
Rome A A Q1 A SF 3R SF QF 3R 3R 1R 0 / 8 15–8 65%
Montreal / Toronto A A A A A A 1R 1R 3R 1R A 0 / 4 1–4 20%
Moscow Tier V Not Held Tier III QF 1R A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Zürich Tier II A A 1R 2R 2R SF 2R A 0 / 5 6–5 55%
Philadelphia NH Tier II A A QF Tier II 0 / 4 5–4 56%
Career Statistics
Year-End Ranking 310 208 164 63 43 21 10 8 15 35 167
  • A = did not participate in the tournament.
  • SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

Record against other top players

Spîrlea's win-loss record against certain players who have been ranked World No. 10 or higher is as follows:

Players who have been ranked World No. 1 are in boldface.

References

  1. ↑ Article in Romanian
  2. ↑ The Enquirer – This article is no longer available
  3. ↑ CNN/SI – US Open Player Profiles
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 sportsillustrated.cnn.com
  5. ↑ telegraph.co.uk
  6. ↑ Father of tennis star Venus Williams charges racism during recent U.S. Open – Richard Williams|Jet|Find Articles at BNET.com

External links

Preceded by
Iva Majoli		 WTA Newcomer of the Year
1994 		Succeeded by
Martina Hingis
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