Irina Camelia Begu Romania Female Tennis Player Biography

Full name: Irina-Camelia Begu
Country: Romania
Residence: Bucharest, Romania
Born :August 26, 1990 (age 21)
Bucharest, Romania
Height: 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro: 2005
Retired: Active
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money: $305,786

Irina Begu started the year at No.234 - never winning a main draw match at WTA level.
Begu won the first $100,000 ITF event of her career in February in Cali, defeating world #82 Laura Pous Tió in the final in straight sets.
In April, she entered the 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience as a qualifier and eventually made the qualifications without losing a set. Then she defeated Alberta Brianti 6–4, 6–1 in the first round and followed that up with a 7–5, 6–0 win over Estrella Cabeza Candela to advance to the quarterfinals. She made to the semifinals after she beat 34th-ranked Klára Zakopalová 6–3, 6–3. In the semifinal, she stunned world #14 and former world #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 10th July. The Romanian played the semifinal more aggressive than the fifth seed Medina who allowed the youngster break her when counted the most. Irina had previously crashed another Spaniard Estrella Cabeza Candela 6–0, 6–3. Her first round have brought her a 6–4, 6–4 win over another Spanish player, Laura Pous Tió whom she defeated 6–4, 6–4, and a second straight similar win over Ajla Tomljanović of Croatia. She eventually lost the last act against Top-seeded Roberta Vinci, 4–6, 6–1, 4–6.
She posted in July the lone upset of second-round at the 2011 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo tournament in Italy, defeating second-seeded Roberta Vinci 6–4, 6–3, after eliminating another local in the first round, Maria Elena Camerin.[7] Begu lost eventually to the fifth-seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarterfinals, who was also the winner of the competition.
In the same month, Irina-Camelia Begu won the 2011 BCR Open Romania Ladies title from Bucharest, after defeating the Spanish opponent Laura Pous Tió 6–3, 7–5, in the final. Begu has achieved her third consecutive win against Laura Pous Tió, in 2011, after the ones in Cali and Budapest. It was her fifth final of the year and her second trophy. The 50 WTA points allow Irina to enter the top 50 of best women players in the world, becoming also the highest ranked Romanian player.