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, tradition ...

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

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, partnering with

Oksana Kalashnikova Oksana Kalashnikova ( ka, ოქსანა კალაშნიკოვა, tr, ; born 5 September 1990) is a Georgian professional tennis player. Kalashnikova has won five WTA Tour doubles titles, three WTA Challenger doubles titles ...

. Later, as a senior, she continued with Grand Slam doubles success. She reached the semifinal at the 2018 Australian Open and quarterfinals of the 2017 French Open 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 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 Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...

. 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 in 2016. In doubles, she has never won higher level tournament than International, but reached the final of the Premier-5

Wuhan Open The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Motor) is a tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its debut in t ...

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 The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour ...

in 2018.

Early life and background

Begu was born on 26 August 1990 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. 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 Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved o ...

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 The ITF Junior Circuit is the premier level for worldwide competition among under-18 junior tennis players. Founded in 1977 with only nine tournaments, the 2011 ITF Junior Circuit offered over 350 tournaments in 118 countries. Mirroring the ATP an ...

debut at the Grade-4 Wilson ITF Junior Classic in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

in January 2005. In March 2005, she made her doubles debut at the Grade-3 Trofeul D Sturdza in

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

. 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 The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

, 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. 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 Umag (; it, Umago) is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia. Geography It is the westernmost town of Croatia, and it includes Bašanija, the westernmost point of Croatia. Population Umag has a population of 7,281, with a total municipal populatio ...

. 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, she made her

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

debut, but lost in the first round to

Ksenia Lykina Ksenia Valentinovna Lykina (russian: Ксения Валентиновна Лыкина; born 19 June 1990) is a Russian former tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or bet ...

. 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 Oksana Kalashnikova ( ka, ოქსანა კალაშნიკოვა, tr, ; born 5 September 1990) is a Georgian professional tennis player. Kalashnikova has won five WTA Tour doubles titles, three WTA Challenger doubles titles ...

. They lost to

Misaki Doi is a Japanese professional tennis player. Her highest WTA rankings are No. 30 in singles and No. 77 in doubles. Doi reached two junior Grand Slam doubles finals – at Wimbledon in 2007 with Kurumi Nara, and at the Australian Open in 2008 ...

and

Kurumi Nara is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 18 August 2014, she reached a career-high singles ranking of worl ...

. 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 The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. History It serves as a developmental ...

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. Year later, she won her first ITF title at

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a popu ...

, defeating

Andreea Mitu Cristina-Andreea Mitu (born 22 September 1991) is a professional tennis player from Romania. On 8 June 2015, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of 68, and her best doubles ranking is world No. 69, reached on 24 October 2016. Mitu is ...

in the final. In October 2008, she won her first major ITF title at the $50K event in Jounieh, defeating

Anastasiya Yakimova Anastasiya Yakimova ( be, Настасся Аляксееўна Якімава; russian: Анастасия Алексеевна Екимова; born 1 November 1986) is a former tennis player from Belarus. She made it to the third round of the ...

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, she had her first

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

attempt to participate in the main draw, but failed in the final stage of the qualifications. In July 2009, she made her

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

debut at the Hungarian Open, but lost to

Shahar Pe'er Shahar Pe'er ( he, שחר פאר, ; born ) is an Israeli retired tennis player. Pe'er won five singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four singles and three doubles titles on the ITF circuit in her career. She reached ...

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 Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...

. At the 2009 Palermo International, she made her WTA Tour doubles debut. In August 2010, she won the $75K Bucharest, alongside Elena Bogdan. Later that year, she won three $25K titles and finished runner-up at the $50K Madrid and the $75K

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

.

2011–12: First WTA title

Singles

Begu continued to progress at the ITF Circuit, winning her first $100K title at the Copa Bionaire in Cali in February, after defeating

Laura Pous Tió Laura Pous Tió (born 1 October 1984) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. Career Pous Tió won the gold medal at the 2005 Mediterranean Games in Almería by defeating compatriot Nuria Llagostera Vives in straight sets. She won 2 ...

, 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 Klára Koukalová (formerly Zakopalová; born 24 February 1982) is a retired Czech tennis player. She was born and still lives in Prague. Having turned professional in 1999, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 20, on 15 April ...

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 Victória Fyódarauna Azárenka ( be, Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка; Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Azarenka is a former wo ...

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 Pauline Parmentier (; born 31 January 1986) is a French former tennis player. Her career-high WTA rankings, WTA singles ranking is world No. 40, which she attained on 21 July 2008. On 30 April 2012, she peaked at world No. 89 on the WTA doubles ...

. Then, she returned to the WTA Tour and reached another WTA final at the Hungarian Open, but lost to

Roberta Vinci Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position. She also reached a career-high ranking of world No. 7 in ...

. 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. 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 Flavia Pennetta (; born 25 February 1982) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-ten female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked world No. 1 in doubles, on 28 February 2011. ...

. In April, she reached the quarterfinals of the

Morocco Open The Morocco Open or Rabat Grand Prix (for sponsorship reasons called the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem), is a women's professional tennis tournament currently held in Rabat, Morocco. This WTA Tour event is classified as an Internati ...

, 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 Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With 9 singles titles and 27 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championship ...

in straight sets. Despite falling early at the US Open, she made her first top-10 win, defeating world No. 9,

Caroline Wozniacki Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...

, 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 Donna Vekić (; born 28 June 1996) is a Croatian professional tennis player and businesswoman. She has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour – at the 2014 Malaysian Open, at the 2017 Nottingham Open, and the 2021 Courmayeur Ladies Open. ...

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 Urszula Radwańska (; born 7 December 1990) is a Polish professional tennis player. Radwańska has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as seven singles and ten doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 8 October 2012, she reached ...

. 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, 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 Monica Niculescu (born 25 September 1987) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as high as 28 in singles and 11 in doubles. Niculescu has won several titles: three singles and ten double ...

. 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 Luxembourg Open, Tennis tournaments in Luxembourg Indoor tennis tournaments Hard court tennis tournaments WTA Tour Kockelscheuer Recurring sporting events established in 1991 Autumn events in Luxembourg 1991 establishments in Luxembourg ...

. 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

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 ...

. 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 Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...

. 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

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 ...

, she was forced to play in the qualifications. She succeed to qualify, but then lost to

Galina Voskoboeva Galina Olegovna Voskoboeva (russian: Галина Олеговна Воскобоева; born 18 December 1984) is a professional Russian-born Kazakhstani tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 on 7 May 2012. He ...

. 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 Brasilei ...

, 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 Kaia Kanepi (; born 10 June 1985) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 15 on 20 August 2012 and has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour. Described as a 'resident Grand Slam upset spec ...

and top 50

Kurumi Nara is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 18 August 2014, she reached a career-high singles ranking of worl ...

, before she lost to top 20 player

Carla Suárez Navarro Carla Suárez Navarro (; born 3 September 1988, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a be ...

. In July, she won $100K

Contrexéville Contrexéville () is a commune of north-eastern France, in the Vosges département. Inhabitants are called ''Contrexévillois''. The mineral springs of Contrexéville have been known locally for many years, but became generally known only toward ...

, 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

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 ...

, 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, 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 Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish tennis coach and former professional player. As a player she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 16 in 2020, and won 11 singles and 28 doubles titles, including the 2008 ...

. 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 São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

and then the $50K Medellín. When she returned to the WTA Tour, she did not do well, but later reached third round of 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 ...

. In July, she reached final of the $100K Contrexéville. In September, she reached semifinal of the

Tashkent Open The Tashkent Open by Zeromax is a women's tennis tournament held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Held since 1999, this WTA Tour event is an International tournament and is played on outdoor hard courts. Since 2014, the event has been scheduled in early ...

, 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

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 ...

. 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 Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wim ...

, but later failed to reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, losing to world No. 7,

Eugenie Bouchard Eugenie "Genie" Bouchard (; french: Eugénie Bouchard, ; born February 25, 1994) is a Canadian tennis player. At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first Canadian-born player representing Canada to reach the final of a Grand Slam t ...

. A month later, she reached semifinal 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 Brasilei ...

, 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 The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...

, where she was defeated by Angelique Kerber. At the

Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...

, she reached her first Premier Mandatory quarterfinal, losing there to world No. 4

Petra Kvitová Petra Kvitová, OLY ( , ; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 29 career singles titles, including two major titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and i ...

. She then reached third rounds at the Italian Open,

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 ...

and

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 September, she won WTA title at the Korea Open, defeating qualifier

Aliaksandra Sasnovich Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich ( be, Аляксандра Аляксандраўна Сасновіч; born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian tennis player. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has rea ...

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 The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...

, losing to Angelique Kerber. She then made her second consecutive

Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...

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 Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...

. She then reached her first Premier 5 semifinal at the Italian Open. There she made another top 10 win over Victoria Azarenka, but later lost to

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...

. 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 reached round of 16, after defeating two top 50 players,

CoCo Vandeweghe Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...

and

Annika Beck Annika Beck (; born 16 February 1994) is a German former professional tennis player. She started playing tennis at the age of four when introduced to the game by her parents. A baseliner whose favorite shot is forehand, and favorite surface is ...

, but later lost to

Shelby Rogers Shelby Rogers (born October 13, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 30 in singles achieved August 2022 and No. 40 in doubles, achieved February 2022, and has won six singles and two doub ...

. 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 Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a four-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2018 and 2020 Australian Opens, as well as the Fre ...

in the final. There she also defeated top 50

Monica Puig Monica Puig Marchán, (born September 27, 1993) is a Puerto Rican former professional tennis player. She is the first Puerto Rican in history to win a gold medal at the Olympics while representing Puerto Rico, having done so in 2016 at the ...

. 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 The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...

, including win over top 20

Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...

, 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 Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles. Mertens is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open partnering ...

. At the

Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...

, 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 Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea is not a separate town as all of Portsea Island's s ...

, but then lost to

Tatjana Maria Tatjana Maria (née Malek; born 8 August 1987) is a German professional tennis player. In November 2017, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 46, and in June 2016, she peaked at No. 54 in the doubles rankings. She has won two singles ...

. Nearly after that, she won title at the Bucharest Open, 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

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 ...

, where she was defeated by Daria Kasatkina. Previously, in the second round, she defeated top 30

Anastasija Sevastova Anastasija Sevastova (born 13 April 1990) is an inactive professional tennis player from Latvia. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 2018, after reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open. She ...

. 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

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 ...

and

Sania Mirza Sania Mirza (; born 15 November 1986) is an Indian professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she has won six major titles – three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles. From 2003 until her retirement from singles in ...

. She finished season with the final of the Premier-level

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 ...

. 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 2017 French Open quarterfinal alongside

Zheng Saisai Zheng Saisai or Zheng Sai-Sai (; born February 5, 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. She won one WTA singles title (at the Premier level 2019 Silicon Valley Classic), five WTA doubles titles, and reached the final of the 2019 French Open in dou ...

, where they lost to

Ashleigh Barty Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley (given name), Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom. Notable people B *Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian ...

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 Ioana Raluca Olaru (born 3 March 1989) is a professional tennis player from Romania. The winner of 11 singles and 15 doubles ITF titles, Olaru reached one WTA singles final, at the 2009 Gastein Ladies,WTA TourPetkovic, Olaru Into Final(25 Jul ...

, she won Bucharest Open, defeating Elise Mertens and

Demi Schuurs Demi Schuurs (born 1 August 1993) is a professional Dutch tennis player who has specialized in doubles. She has won 15 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one singles title and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. In February 2015, she ...

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 Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With 9 singles titles and 27 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championship ...

. 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 The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...

in April. There she lost to Daria Kasatkina. Nearly after that she reached semifinal of the Istanbul Cup. At the

Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...

, 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 Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...

. 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 reached third round, after defeating top 30

Zhang Shuai Zhang Shuai (; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2019 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open, both alongside Samantha Stosur. Zhang also ...

. In the third-round match, she was defeated by world No. 7,

Caroline Garcia Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion. She is also a two-ti ...

. She then start not doing well, but reached quarterfinal of the Korea Open in September, after defeating

Agnieszka Radwańska Agnieszka Roma Radwańska (; born 6 March 1989) is a Polish former professional tennis player. She won 20 career singles WTA Tour titles, two doubles titles, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 on 9 July 2012. Her achievem ...

. In the early 2019, she reached quarterfinal of 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 ...

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

Markéta Vondroušová Markéta Šimková (née Vondroušová; ; born 28 June 1999) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of world No. 14 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Vondroušová finished runner-up at the 2019 French Open, ...

. In May, she fall out the top 100 for the first time since April 2014. Later she reached quarterfinal of the Bucharest Open, where

Laura Siegemund Laura Natalie Siegemund (born 4 March 1988, in Filderstadt) is a German professional tennis player. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 US Open in women's doubles with Vera Zvonareva, as well as the 2016 US Open in mi ...

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 Danka Kovinić ( cnr, Данка Ковинић; born 18 November 1994) is a Montenegrin professional tennis player. On 22 February 2016, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 46, and on 20 June 2016, she peaked at No. 67 in th ...

. Begu won the $100K

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

in February 2020, after defeating

Lesia Tsurenko Lesia Viktorivna Tsurenko ( uk, Леся Вікторівна Цуренко; born 30 May 1989) is a Ukrainian tennis player. Tsurenko has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and eight doubles tournaments on the IT ...

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 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 seriesIndian Wells Challenger. She did not lose a set in the entire tournament and defeated

Misaki Doi is a Japanese professional tennis player. Her highest WTA rankings are No. 30 in singles and No. 77 in doubles. Doi reached two junior Grand Slam doubles finals – at Wimbledon in 2007 with Kurumi Nara, and at the Australian Open in 2008 ...

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

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 ...

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

Ekaterina Makarova Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles. She ...

and

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 late June, she reached final of the

Eastbourne International The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour ...

, but failed to win the title. 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 * ...

, she reached quarterfinal alongside

Mihaela Buzărnescu Mihaela Buzărnescu (born 4 May 1988) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 20, achieved on 6 August 2018. Her best doubles ranking of world No. 24, she reached on 22 October 2018. She has ...

, where

Nicole Melichar Nicole Melichar-Martinez (née Melichar; cz, Nicole Melicharová, ) is an American tennis player who specializes in doubles. She has won twelve doubles titles on the WTA Tour and one WTA 125 doubles title as well as two singles and seven double ...

and

Květa Peschke Květoslava Peschke (née Hrdličková; born 9 July 1975) is a Czech retired professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 in November 2005, winning one WTA singles title ...

defeated them. She followed this with title at the Bucharest Open with Andreea Mitu. In September 2018, she reached final of the

Tashkent Open The Tashkent Open by Zeromax is a women's tennis tournament held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Held since 1999, this WTA Tour event is an International tournament and is played on outdoor hard courts. Since 2014, the event has been scheduled in early ...

with Raluca Olaru, but they lost to

Olga Danilović Olga Danilović ( sr-cyr, Олга Даниловић, ; born 23 January 2001) is a Serbian tennis player. In July 2018, Danilović won her first WTA Tour singles title in Moscow by beating Anastasia Potapova in the final. She also won two WTA ...

and

Tamara Zidanšek Tamara Zidanšek (; born 26 December 1997) is a Slovenian tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 22 in singles and No. 54 in doubles, and is the current number-one Slovene tennis player in singles. She has won one singles title an ...

. 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 Anna Vladimirovna Blinkova ( rus, Анна Владимировна Блинкова, , ˈanːə blʲɪnˈkovə, Ru-Anna Blinkova.ogg; born 10 September 1998) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has won one singles and one doubles title ...

and

Wang Yafan Wang Yafan (; ; born 30 April 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. In her career, she has won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four doubles titles on WTA 125 tournaments, plus eleven singles and six doubles ...

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

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 ...

.

2021: Major doubles semifinal

Singles

Doubles

She reached the semifinals with local favorite

Sara Errani Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With 9 singles titles and 27 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championship ...

as a wildcard pair at the Italian Open, where they were defeated by

Markéta Vondroušová Markéta Šimková (née Vondroušová; ; born 28 June 1999) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of world No. 14 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Vondroušová finished runner-up at the 2019 French Open, ...

and

Kristina Mladenovic Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (; sr, Кристина "Кики" Младеновић, Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a nine-time Grand Slam ch ...

. 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 ...

, 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 Iga Natalia Świątek (; born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. She is currently ranked world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Świątek is a three-time major singles champion, having won the French Open in 202 ...

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 Amanda Anisimova ( ; , ; born August 31, 2001) is a Russian-American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA ranking of No. 21 in the world, and has been ranked in the top 100 since shortly after turning 17 years old. Anisimova has ...

in the quarterfinals. Then she lost in the second round to

Elise Mertens Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles. Mertens is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open partnering ...

at 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 ...

. The next tournament was in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, where she defeated

Zhang Shuai Zhang Shuai (; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2019 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open, both alongside Samantha Stosur. Zhang also ...

, sixth seed

Petra Kvitová Petra Kvitová, OLY ( , ; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 29 career singles titles, including two major titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and i ...

and

Tereza Martincová Tereza Martincová (; born 24 October 1994) is a Czech tennis player. Martincová has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour and four singles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 14 February 2022, she reached her best WTA singles ranking of world ...

in straight sets, but she lost to the top seed

Maria Sakkari Maria Sakkari ( gr, Μαρία Σάκκαρη, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her ...

in the semifinals, after a 3-hour match. She then lost her opening round matches in

Dubai Tennis Championships The Dubai Tennis Championships or Dubai Open (also known as the ''Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships'' for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships'' and the ''Dubai Duty Free Men's ...

, 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 Hailey Baptiste (born November 3, 2001) is an American professional tennis player. Career On the junior tour, she reached a career-high ranking of No. 38 on January 29, 2018. She ended runner-up at the US Open junior doubles tournament in 2018. ...

in three sets and then went on to defeat top seed

Aryna Sabalenka Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...

in straight sets, before losing to

Aliaksandra Sasnovich Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich ( be, Аляксандра Аляксандраўна Сасновіч; born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian tennis player. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has rea ...

in the third round. During the clay-court season, she reached the round of 16 in Charleston and qualified for the main draw in Madrid where she lost to

Belinda Bencic Belinda Bencic ( sk, Belinda Benčičová, ; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won six singl ...

. 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 defeated 30th seed

Ekaterina Alexandrova Ekaterina Evgenyevna Alexandrova ( rus, Екатери́на Евге́ньевна Александро́ва, links=no; ; born 15 November 1994) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has won three WTA singles titles, three WTA 125 titl ...

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

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 ...

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

Ekaterina Alexandrova Ekaterina Evgenyevna Alexandrova ( rus, Екатери́на Евге́ньевна Александро́ва, links=no; ; born 15 November 1994) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has won three WTA singles titles, three WTA 125 titl ...

. 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 * ...

, Begu lost in the third round to

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 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 Océane Dodin (, born 24 October 1996) is a professional tennis player from France. Ranked by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), she reached a career-high of 46 as a singles player in June 2017 and No. 375 in October 2017 as a doubles player ...

,

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 Sara Sorribes Tormo (; born 8 October 1996) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Sorribes Tormo has won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour. On the ITF Circuit ...

, 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 Monica Niculescu (born 25 September 1987) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as high as 28 in singles and 11 in doubles. Niculescu has won several titles: three singles and ten double ...

, they lost in the first round) and the mixed doubles (with

Horia Tecău Horia Tecău (; born January 19, 1985) is a Romanian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. He is a three-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Wimbledon Championships and 2017 US Open alongside Jean-Julien Rojer ...

, 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