Irina-Camelia Begu

Irina won an ITF title in Cairo in February, the 2020 Zed Tennis Open, by defeating Lesia Tsurenko 6–4, 3–6, 6–2 in the final.

Current through the suspension of the 2020 WTA Tour.

She has also won 9 WTA and 19 ITF doubles titles. Her highest doubles ranking of No. 22 was achieved on 1 October 2018.

Irina has won 4 WTA, 1 WTA 125K, and 12 ITF singles titles. On 22 August 2016, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 22.

In March, Irina played the 2016 BNP Paribas Open, where she lost in the first round to Laura Siegemund, falling in three sets. She then played at the Miami Open, where she beat qualifier Maria Sakkari, Sabine Lisicki and Kristýna Plíšková, before losing to Madison Keys.

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

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

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

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

At Oeiras she reached the semifinals, beating en route Kurumi Nara, Kaia Kanepi and Timea Bacsinszky before losing to eventual champion Carla Suárez Navarro. At Seoul in singles she lost in the first round to Chanelle Scheepers in three sets. In doubles she paired with Lara Arruabarrena defeating Mona Barthel and Mandy Minella in the final 6–3, 6–3, claiming her second WTA doubles title of the year. At Moscow she reached her first Premier final, beating Donna Vekić, 2nd seed Ekaterina Makarova, Tsvetana Pironkova and 4th seed Lucie Šafářová before losing to seed No. 6 and eventual champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. With this result, she returned to the top 40.

At the Australian Open, Irina defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 5–7, 6–3, 6–4, but lost in the second round to Kristýna Plíšková, score 4–6, 6–7. On July 23, she won the Bucharest Open without losing a set in the entire tournament.

She continued her good form in March and won a WTA 125K series title, the Oracle Challenger Series – Indian Wells. She did not lose a set in the entire tournament and defeated Misaki Doi 6–3, 6–3 in the final.

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in Win–Loss records.

Begu's win–loss record against players who have been ranked world No. 10 or higher is as follows:

Begu competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women's singles, but lost in the first round to Victoria Azarenka.

Ranked world No. 96, Begu won her opening match at the US Open, defeating the eighth seed, 2009 finalist and two-time semifinalist Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. She subsequently lost to Sílvia Soler Espinosa of Spain in round two.

Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player.