Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 22 in the world, in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest WTA doubles ranking, also No. 22. Begu has won five singles titles and nine doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She also has won two singles titles on the

WTA Challenger Tour WTA 125 tournaments are an international series of professional women's tennis tournaments organized by the Women's Tennis Association since 2012. In the past (2012–2015) sometimes called the WTA Challenger seriesITF Circuit. As a junior, she reached semifinal at the

2007 Wimbledon Championships The 2007 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 121st edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...

, partnering with Oksana Kalashnikova. Later, as a senior, she continued with Grand Slam doubles success. She reached the semifinal at the

2018 Australian Open The 2018 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played at Melbourne Park between 15 and 28 January 2018, and was the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2018 season. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, doubles ...

and quarterfinals of the

2017 French Open The 2017 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 121st edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 28 May to 11 June and consisted of ...

and

2018 Wimbledon Championships The 2018 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main tournament began on Monday, 2 July 2018 and ...

. In singles, she has the round of 16 as her best Grand Slam result at the

2015 Australian Open The 2015 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park from 19 January to 1 February 2015. It was the 103rd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Stan Wawrinka was the defend ...

2016 French Open The 2016 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 120th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 22 May to 5 June and consisted of ...

and

2022 French Open The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair ...

. In singles, she reached one Premier final, at the

2014 Kremlin Cup The 2014 Kremlin Cup was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 25th edition of the Kremlin Cup for the men (19th edition for the women) and part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series of the 2014 ATP World Tour, and of the Pre ...

, but lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Her other significant results in singles include two quarterfinals of the Premier Mandatory-level Madrid Open in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and semifinal of the Premier 5

Italian Open Italian Open may refer to: *Italian Open (tennis), a Masters 1000 level tennis tournament played in Rome each year. *Italian Open (golf) The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. It ...

in 2016. In doubles, she has never won higher level tournament than International, but reached the final of the Premier-5 Wuhan Open in 2015, as well as, two Premier-level finals at the

Kremlin Cup The Kremlin Cup (russian: Кубок Кремля) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts, which was suspended in 2022. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and was a Premier Tournament on the WTA ...

in 2015 and Eastbourne International in 2018.

Early life and background

Begu was born on 26 August 1990 in Bucharest. Her mother Steluţa is a civil servant, while her father Paul is an electrician. She has an older brother, Andrei. She started playing tennis when she was three-and-a-half years old as her aunt, former tennis player Aurelia Gheorghe, introduced her to the sport. As junior ages, she also did gymnastics and played handball. At the age of 14, Irina took part in a one-month tour promoted by the ITF with seven other girls and eight boys, joining the likes of Grigor Dimitrov and Ricardas Berankis. Her idol growing up was

Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...

Junior career

Begu is a former junior world No. 14. She achieved this ranking on 27 August 2007, day after she turned 17. She made her singles ITF Junior Circuit debut at the Grade-4 Wilson ITF Junior Classic in Salzburg in January 2005. In March 2005, she made her doubles debut at the Grade-3 Trofeul D Sturdza in Moldova. She won one singles and three doubles title in total on the ITF junior tour. She won her first singles junior title at the Grade-2 Raquette D'Or in

Mohammedia Mohammedia ( ar, المحمدية, al-muḥammadiyya; ber, ⴼⴹⴰⵍⴰ, Fḍala), known until 1960 as Fedala, is a port city on the west coast of Morocco between Casablanca and Rabat in the region of Casablanca-Settat. It hosts the most imp ...

in June 2006. The following week, she reached another Grade-2 final, but this time in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

, where she lost. In December 2006, she made her debut at the Orange Bowl, where she reached third round in singles and first round in doubles. She followed this with semifinal of the Grade-1 Yucatán World Cup in singles, but there won the title in doubles. She then finished season of 2006 with quarterfinal of the Grade-A International Casablanca Junior Cup in

Tlalnepantla Tlalnepantla de Baz is one of 125 municipalities of the state of Mexico, north of Mexico City. The municipal seat and largest city in the municipality is the city of Tlalnepantla. ''Tlalnepantla'' comes from the Náhuatl words ''tlalli'' (land) ...

. She started the 2007 season with the quarterfinal of the Grade-1 Coffee Bowl in

San José San José or San Jose (Spanish for Saint Joseph) most often refers to: *San Jose, California, United States *San José, Costa Rica, the nation's capital San José or San Jose may also refer to: Places Argentina * San José, Buenos Aires ** San ...

. Nearly after that, she reached semifinal of the Grade-1 Czech International Junior Indoor Championships in

Přerov Přerov (; german: Prerau) is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 41,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Bečva River. In the past it was a major crossroad in the heart of Moravia in the Czech Republic. The historic centre ...

. In April 2007, she won Grade-1 Perin Memorial in doubles in Umag. In May 2007, she reached semifinal of the Grade-1 International Junior Tournament "Citta' Di Santa Croce". The following week, she played at the

Trofeo Bonfiglio The Trofeo Bonfiglio, also known as the Campionati Internazionali d'Italia Juniores, is a prestigious junior tennis tournament held on outdoor red clay courts in Milan. It is one of five Grade A tournaments, the junior equivalent of ATP Masters o ...

and reached quarterfinal, losing there to

Anastasia Pivovarova Anastasia Olegovna Pivovarova (russian: Анастасия Олеговна Пивоварова, born 16 June 1990) is a former professional tennis player from Russia. She reached a career-high ranking of 93, in May 2011. During a successful j ...

. At the

2007 French Open The 2007 French Open (Roland Garros) was held in Paris, France from 27 May through to 10 June 2007. Rafael Nadal became the first man to win the tournament 3 times consecutively since Björn Borg, 1978–81; and maintained his unbeaten run at Rol ...

, she made her Grand Slam debut, but lost in the first round to Ksenia Lykina. She lost in the first round of the doubles draw, as well. She then reached singles final of the Grade-1 International Junior Tournament of Offenbach, but won the title in doubles. At

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

in 2007, she lost in the first round to

Arantxa Rus Arantxa Rus (; born 13 December 1990) is a Dutch tennis player. In 2008, she won the girl's singles title at the 2008 Australian Open – Girls' singles, Australian Open, defeating Jessica Moore (tennis), Jessica Moore from Australia in the final ...

; in doubles, she reached semifinal alongside Oksana Kalashnikova. They lost to Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara. The

2008 French Open The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 112th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 25 May until 8 J ...

was her last junior tournament, she lost in the first round in both singles and doubles.

Professional career

2005–10: Early years

Singles

Begu made her ITF Women's Circuit debut at a $10K event at Bucharest in May 2005. In September 2006, she reached her first ITF final at Bucharest, but lost to

Alexandra Cadanțu Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

. Year later, she won her first ITF title at Brașov, defeating Andreea Mitu in the final. In October 2008, she won her first major ITF title at the $50K event in Jounieh, defeating Anastasiya Yakimova in the final. During the season of 2008, she was climbing more and more on the rankings, getting from top 800 to top 250 at the end of the year. At the

2009 French Open The 2009 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 113th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 24 through ...

, she had her first Grand Slam attempt to participate in the main draw, but failed in the final stage of the qualifications. In July 2009, she made her WTA Tour debut at the

Hungarian Open Hungarian Open may refer to: * Hungarian Open (darts) * Hungarian Open (table tennis) * Hungarian Open (tennis), an ATP World Tour event * Hungarian Challenger Open, an ATP Challenger Tour event * Hungarian Ladies Open, a WTA Tour event * Hungaria ...

, but lost to Shahar Pe'er in the first round.

Doubles

She made her ITF Circuit doubles debut at a $10K event in Câmpina in September 2005. In July 2006, she won her first ITF title at Galați. In May 2009, she won her first major ITF title at the $100K Bucharest, alongside Simona Halep. At the 2009 Palermo International, she made her WTA Tour doubles debut. In August 2010, she won the $75K Bucharest, alongside

Elena Bogdan Elena Bogdan (born 28 March 1992) is a professional tennis player from Romania. On 18 July 2011, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of world No. 151. On 8 June 2015, she peaked at No. 79 in the WTA doubles rankings. Junior career At ...

. Later that year, she won three $25K titles and finished runner-up at the $50K Madrid and the $75K Toyota.

2011–12: First WTA title

Singles

Begu continued to progress at the ITF Circuit, winning her first $100K title at the

Copa Bionaire The Copa Bionaire was a tournament for female professional tennis players played on outdoor clay courts. The event was classified as a WTA 125s tournament. It was held annually in Cali, Colombia, from 2008 to 2013. The first edition of the tourn ...

in Cali in February, after defeating Laura Pous Tió, in straight sets in the final. In April, as a qualifier, she reached her first WTA final at the

Andalucia Tennis Experience The Andalucia Tennis Experience was a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. The inaugural edition was in 2009. The event is affiliated with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is an International tournament o ...

. On her way to the final, she defeated top 40 Klára Koukalová and top 20

Svetlana Kuznetsova Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian inactive professional tennis player. She is a two-time major singles champion, winning the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, and finishing runner-up at two other majors. I ...

, before she lost to Victoria Azarenka in the final. At the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

, she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut and recorded her first Grand Slam win. She lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round. In June, she returned to the ITF Circuit, where she reached the final of the $100K Open de Marseille, being defeated by Pauline Parmentier. Then, she returned to the WTA Tour and reached another WTA final at the

, but lost to Roberta Vinci. After that, she won the $100K Bucharest, defeating Laura Pous Tió in the final. She reached the semifinals of the

Texas Open The Texas Open, known as the Valero Texas Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played near San Antonio, Texas. It dates back years to 1922, when it was first called the Texas Open; San Antonio-based Val ...

, where she lost to

Sabine Lisicki Sabine Katharina Lisicki (; born 22 September 1989) is a German professional tennis player. Lisicki turned professional in 2006, and her breakthrough came in 2009 when she reached the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships, and also won h ...

. During the year, she progressed at the rankings, debuting in the top 100 in April and later in the top 50 in July. Begu continued to progress on the WTA Tour. In March, she reached the semifinal of the Mexican Open in

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...

, but lost to Flavia Pennetta. In April, she reached the quarterfinals of the Morocco Open, where she also defeated former world No. 2, Svetlana Kuznetsova. In July, she reached another WTA semifinal at the Palermo International, losing to Sara Errani in straight sets. Despite falling early at the US Open, she made her first top-10 win, defeating world No. 9, Caroline Wozniacki, in the first round. In the following round, she lost to

Sílvia Soler Espinosa Sílvia Soler Espinosa (; born 19 November 1987) is a retired Spanish tennis player. In her career, she has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as five singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 21 May 2012, she ...

. She did even better in September, when she won her first WTA title, defeating Donna Vekić in the final. There, she also defeated top-50 players

Alizé Cornet Alizé Cornet (; born 22 January 1990) is a French professional tennis player. Cornet has won six singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, ITF Circu ...

and Urszula Radwańska. She followed this with semifinal of the

Linz Open The Linz Open, currently sponsored by Generali Gruppe, is a women's tennis tournament held in Linz, Austria. It is played on indoor hardcourts. The inaugural event took place in 1987 in Wels, Austria and was organized by the ITF as a $10,000 tou ...

, where Victoria Azarenka defeated her.

Doubles

Begu started year of 2011 well, winning title at the $100K Cali, as her first doubles tournament of the year. In June 2011, she won another $100K title in Marseille. At the

2011 Wimbledon The 2011 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 125th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...

, she made her Grand Slam doubles debut, but lost in the first round. In July 2011, she won her year-third $100K title in Bucharest. She started year of 2012 with the title at the

Hobart International The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and is classed as an Interna ...

, that was her first WTA doubles title. There she partnered with Monica Niculescu. She followed this with quarterfinal of the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

, again with Niculescu. Then, in April, she reached final of the Morocco Open, but finished as runner-up with Alexandra Cadanțu. In July, she won $100K Bucharest for the second year in-a-row. She finished year with final at the Luxembourg Open. During these two seasons, Begu was climbing at the rankings. First, she debuted in the top 100 in February 2011, then in the top 50 in late January 2012.

2013–14: From fall to improvement

Singles

Irina-Camelia Begu, Wimbledon 2013 - Diliff

Unlike previous years, Begu did not made any progress during the season of 2013. She started year with first round loss at the

. After that, she reached only first or second round at every tournaments with the exception of the one quarterfinal at the Korea Open in September. There she defeated top 50

Julia Görges Julia Görges (born 2 November 1988) is a German former professional tennis player. A former top-ten singles player, she was ranked as high as No. 9 in the world on 20 August 2018, and was ranked inside the top 15 in doubles, peaking at world No ...

, but later lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Weak results caused her dropping on the rankings and falling out the top 100 in the September. Things got changed in the season of 2014. At the

, she was forced to play in the qualifications. She succeed to qualify, but then lost to Galina Voskoboeva. At her following participation, she reached quarterfinal of the

Rio Open The Rio Open, also known as the ''Rio Open presented by Claro'' for sponsorship reasons, is a tennis event on the ATP Tour and former WTA International Tournaments event. The tournament is played on outdoor clay courts at the Jockey Club Brasileir ...

, losing there to

Teliana Pereira Teliana Santos Pereira (born 20 July 1988) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. On 19 April 2015, she became the first Brazilian in 27 years to win a title on the WTA Tour, beating Yaroslava Shvedova in Bogotá 7–6, 6–1. She ...

. She then was successful at the ITF Women's Circuit. She won two $25K events and reached final of the $50K

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

. Nearly after that, in May, she reached semifinal of the

Portugal Open The Portugal Open (formerly named Estoril Open) was an ATP and WTA clay court tennis tournament in Portugal. The event took place at the sports complex of Jamor in Oeiras, of which Estoril Court Central is the most prominent show court. In 20 ...

in Oeiras, defeating top 30 Kaia Kanepi and top 50 Kurumi Nara, before she lost to top 20 player Carla Suárez Navarro. In July, she won $100K Contrexéville, after defeating seed No. 1 Kaia Kanepi. She finished year with the final of

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

-level

, but then lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. All these results, helped her to climbed from outside the top 120 to the top 50, at the end of the year.

Doubles: Three WTA titles

Just like in singles, Begu did not show her best in doubles, during these two seasons. At the

2013 Australian Open The 2013 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 14 to 27 January 2013. It was the 101st edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. The tournament ...

, she reached third round, alongside Niculescu, failing to repeat previous year quarterfinal result. In June, she won title at the Rosmalen Championships, alongside Anabel Medina Garrigues. That was her first grass title. In February 2014, she won title at the Rio Open, alongside Maria Irigoyen. Soon after that, she returned at the ITF Women's Circuit, where she first win $25K event in São Paulo and then the $50K Medellín. When she returned to the WTA Tour, she did not do well, but later reached third round of the

. In July, she reached final of the $100K Contrexéville. In September, she reached semifinal of the Tashkent Open, followed with title at the Korea Open. Despite her inconsistent, she remained in the top 100 through whole 2013 and 2014 seasons.

2015–17: Three WTA titles, top 30

Singles

Begu made big progress at the

. Until then, she had second round as her best Grand Slam result, but then she reached her first third round, and later round of 16. In the first round, she defeated top 10 Angelique Kerber, but later failed to reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, losing to world No. 7, Eugenie Bouchard. A month later, she reached semifinal of the

, but lost to

Anna Karolína Schmiedlová Anna Karolína Schmiedlová (; born 13 September 1994) is a Slovak tennis player. She has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour, one singles title on the WTA Challenger Tour as well as 12 singles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 12 October 201 ...

. She started well clay-season with quarterfinal of the Premier-level Charleston Open, where she was defeated by Angelique Kerber. At the

Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf), a men's golf tournament played from 1968 to 2007, except 1994–2000 * WTA Madrid Open (tennis), a women's tennis event played from 1996 to 2003 * Madrid Open (tennis) ...

, she reached her first Premier Mandatory quarterfinal, losing there to world No. 4 Petra Kvitová. She then reached third rounds at the

and

. In September, she won WTA title at the Korea Open, defeating qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the final. In May, she debuted in the top 30 and later reached place of 25 as her then-highest ranking. Despite having a slow start at the season of 2016, Begu reached round of 16 at the Miami Open. There she defeated top 40 Sabine Lisicki, before she later lost to

Madison Keys Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 7 by the Women's Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's ...

. She followed this with quarterfinal of the Premier-level Charleston Open, losing to Angelique Kerber. She then made her second consecutive

quarterfinal. She defeated world No. 4

Garbiñe Muguruza Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...

in the second round, but later lost to her compatriot, Simona Halep. She then reached her first Premier 5 semifinal at the

. There she made another top 10 win over Victoria Azarenka, but later lost to Serena Williams. At the

, she reached round of 16, after defeating two top 50 players, CoCo Vandeweghe and Annika Beck, but later lost to Shelby Rogers. In August, she won title at the

Brasil Tennis Cup The Brasil Tennis Cup was a professional women's tennis tournament contested in various Brazilian cities since 1977. The last edition was played on outdoor hard courts in Florianópolis, Brazil. In 2015, the tournament was held on clay courts. ...

, after defeating Tímea Babos in the final. There she also defeated top 50 Monica Puig. Soon after that, also in August, she reached her career-highest singles ranking of place 22. Until April 2017, Begu did not made any significant results since the start of the season. She then reached quarterfinal of the Premier-level Charleston Open, including win over top 20 Samantha Stosur, right before she later lost to

Daria Kasatkina Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked ...

. She followed this with semifinal of the Istanbul Cup, but then lost to Elise Mertens. At the

, she reached third round and also defeated top 20

Elena Vesnina Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a four-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2013 French Open, 2014 US Open, and 2017 Wimbledon Cha ...

in the first round. In July, she reached final of the $100K Southsea, but then lost to Tatjana Maria. Nearly after that, she won title at the

Bucharest Open The Bucharest Open established in 2014 was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts in Bucharest, Romania. It was part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. It was held annually in July at the Arenele BNR the we ...

, defeating top 50 Julia Görges in the final and not losing a single set in the entire tournament. In the semifinal, she defeated top 40 Carla Suárez Navarro. She then did not do well, but in October, she reached semifinal of the Premier-level

, where she was defeated by Daria Kasatkina. Previously, in the second round, she defeated top 30 Anastasija Sevastova. Through whole of the year, she stayed in the top 70.

Doubles

In February 2015, Begu finished as runner-up at the Rio Open, alongside Maria Irigoyen. At the Madrid Open, she reached her first Premier Mandatory quarterfinal. At the 2015 Canadian Open, she reached first Premier 5 quarterfinal, and then at the

2015 Wuhan Open The 2015 Wuhan Open (also known as 2015 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open for sponsorship reasons) was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts between September 27 and October 3, 2015. It was part of the WTA Premier 5 tournaments of the ...

, alongside Monica Niculescu, she reached her first final from that level. They lost to

and Sania Mirza. She finished season with the final of the Premier-level

. Right after that, she debuted in the top 30. The following year, she continued with significant performances at the Premier 5-level, reaching semifinal at the 2016 Italian Open. However, her other results during the season of 2016 was not such significant. She started year inside top 30, then start dropping at the rankings and finished year outside the top 150. In 2017, she first got recognised at the Madrid Open, where she reached semifinal alongside Simona Halep. She followed this with her first

quarterfinal alongside Zheng Saisai, where they lost to Ashleigh Barty and

Casey Dellacqua Casey Dellacqua ( ; born 11 February 1985) is a retired Australian professional tennis player and current commentator. Her best singles results on the WTA Tour have been semifinal appearances at the 2012 Texas Tennis Open and 2014 Birmingham ...

. In July 2017, alongside Raluca Olaru, she won Bucharest Open, defeating Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs in the final. Then, again with Olaru, she reached quarterfinal of the

Cincinnati Open The Cincinnati Masters or Cincinnati Open (branded as the Western & Southern Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual outdoor hardcourt tennis event held in Mason, Ohio near Cincinnati. The event started on September 18, 1899, and is the olde ...

. At the

2017 Tianjin Open The 2017 Tianjin Open was a women's professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the 4th edition of the tournament, and part of the 2017 WTA Tour. It took place at the ''Tuanbo International Tennis Centre'' in Tianjin, China betwee ...

, she won title alongside Sara Errani. Unlike in 2016, she start climbing in the rankings and returned to the top 40 in October.

2018–20: Inconsistent

Singles

Begu had variable results during these three seasons. She started season of 2018 with semifinal of the Shenzhen Open, but then lost to world No. 1 Simona Halep. She then start reaching only first or second rounds, before she reached quarterfinal of the Premier-level Charleston Open in April. There she lost to Daria Kasatkina. Nearly after that she reached semifinal of the Istanbul Cup. At the

, she defeated world No. 5

Jeļena Ostapenko Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 Augus ...

in the first round, but then lost to Maria Sharapova. At the

, she reached third round, after defeating top 30 Zhang Shuai. In the third-round match, she was defeated by world No. 7, Caroline Garcia. She then start not doing well, but reached quarterfinal of the Korea Open in September, after defeating Agnieszka Radwańska. In the early 2019, she reached quarterfinal of the

, but then lost to Anna Karolína Schmiedlová. A month later, she reached another quarterfinal at the

, losing there to Markéta Vondroušová. In May, she fall out the top 100 for the first time since April 2014. Later she reached quarterfinal of the

, where Laura Siegemund defeated her. Her last tournament of year was the $100K

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...

, where she finished as a runner-up, after losing to Danka Kovinić. Begu won the $100K Cairo in February 2020, after defeating Lesia Tsurenko in the final. This bring her back to top 100. She continued her good form in March and won a title on a tournament of the WTA 125K series, the Indian Wells Challenger. She did not lose a set in the entire tournament and defeated Misaki Doi in the final. In August, she reached semifinal of the

Prague Open In tennis, Prague Open may refer to: * Prague Open (1987–1999) * ATP Prague Open * WTA Prague Open * Sparta Prague Open Challenger The Sparta Prague Open Challenger is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Clay courts, clay cou ...

, but then lost to her compatriot, Simona Halep. In the first round, she defeating top 50 Anastasija Sevastova.

Doubles

Begu started season of 2018 with a title at the Shenzhen Open, alongside Simona Halep. She done event better at the

, where she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal, playing along Monica Niculescu. They lost to Ekaterina Makarova and

. In late June, she reached final of the Eastbourne International, but failed to win the title. At

, she reached quarterfinal alongside Mihaela Buzărnescu, where Nicole Melichar and Květa Peschke defeated them. She followed this with title at the

with Andreea Mitu. In September 2018, she reached final of the Tashkent Open with Raluca Olaru, but they lost to Olga Danilović and Tamara Zidanšek. In October 2018, she reached her career-highest doubles ranking of place 22. In February 2019, she and Niculescu won the title at the Thailand Open, beating Anna Blinkova and Wang Yafan in the final. Later, she start producing modest results, that resulted her new dropping on the ranking. She continued to struggle with results and dropped out the top 100 in late January 2020. During the season of 2020, Begu won only one match, that was at the

2021: Major doubles semifinal

Singles

Doubles

She reached the semifinals with local favorite Sara Errani as a wildcard pair at the

, where they were defeated by Markéta Vondroušová and Kristina Mladenovic. At the

, Begu reached the semifinals in doubles, partnering with Argentinian

Nadia Podoroska Nadia Natacha Podoroska (; born 10 February 1997) is an Argentine professional tennis player. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Podoroska has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, along with 14 singles titles and seven doubles titles on ...

for the second time in her career. They lost to Iga Świątek and

Bethanie Mattek-Sands Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles (five in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles), and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former wo ...

2022: First title in 5 years

She played at the Melbourne Summer Set 2 in January. In the first round she defeated

Jessica Pegula Jessica Pegula (born February 24, 1994) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings in singles and doubles of world No. 3, both achieved on October 24, 2022. She has won two singles titles and five doubles title ...

, the top seed of the tournament. She lost in straight sets to Amanda Anisimova in the quarterfinals. Then she lost in the second round to Elise Mertens at the

. The next tournament was in Saint Petersburg, where she defeated Zhang Shuai, sixth seed Petra Kvitová and Tereza Martincová in straight sets, but she lost to the top seed Maria Sakkari in the semifinals, after a 3-hour match. She then lost her opening round matches in Dubai Tennis Championships, Qatar Open, and

Indian Wells Open The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...

. At the Miami Open, she defeated Hailey Baptiste in three sets and then went on to defeat top seed Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets, before losing to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the third round. During the clay-court season, she reached the round of 16 in

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

and qualified for the main draw in Madrid where she lost to Belinda Bencic. At the

, she defeated 30th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round and wildcard

Léolia Jeanjean Léolia Jeanjean (born 14 August 1995) is a French tennis player. Jeanjean has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 107 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), achieved on 28 November 2022. She also has a career-high WTA doubles ranking o ...

in the third to enter the second week of a Grand Slam event for the first time since the 2016 French Open, where she lost to

. Begu was fined $10,000 for an unsportsmanlike conduct, after she threw her racket in her third round match against Ekaterina Alexandrova. At

, Begu lost in the third round to

, in three sets. At the 2022 Palermo Open, Begu beat the qualifier

Marina Bassols Ribera Marina Bassols Ribera (born 13 December 1999) is a Spanish tennis player. Bassols Ribera has a career-high WTA ranking of 121 in singles, achieved on 28 November 2022. She also has a career-high WTA ranking of 194 in doubles, achieved on 15 Augu ...

, along with Océane Dodin,

Diane Parry Diane Parry (born 1 September 2002) is a French professional tennis player. On 24 October 2022, she peaked at No. 58 in the WTA singles rankings. In 2019, she became the junior world No. 1. Career Junior years Junior Grand Slam results - Single ...

, Sara Sorribes Tormo, and

Lucia Bronzetti Lucia Bronzetti (born 10 December 1998) is an Italian tennis player. Bronzetti has career-high WTA rankings of No. 47 in singles and No. 375 in doubles. She has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, at the 2023 Morocco Open. She has also re ...

, to win her first title in five years.

National representation

Fed Cup Group I 2012 Europe Africa day 1 Irina-Camelia Begu 002

Olympics

Begu competed at the London Olympics in the women's singles, but lost in the first round to Victoria Azarenka. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, she competed in the women's singles (losing in the first round to Nao Hibino), the women's doubles (with Monica Niculescu, they lost in the first round) and the mixed doubles (with Horia Tecău, reaching the quarterfinals).

Career statistics

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Awards

;2011 * WTA Newcomer of the Year

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Begu, Irina-Camelia 1990 births Living people Tennis players from Bucharest Romanian female tennis players Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic tennis players of Romania