Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of world No. 22, in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest ranking in doubles, also No. 22.
Begu has won six singles titles and nine doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She also has won three singles titles on the WTA Challenger Tour, with 12 singles and 19 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.
As a junior, she reached the semifinals of the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, partnering with Oksana Kalashnikova. 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. In singles, reaching the round of 16 has been her best Grand Slam result at the 2015 Australian Open, 2016 French Open and 2022 French Open.
In singles, she reached one Premier final, at the 2014 Kremlin Cup, but lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Her other significant results in singles include two quarterfinals of the Premier Mandatory-level Madrid Open in 2015 and 2016 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 in 2015, as well as two Premier-level finals at the Kremlin Cup in 2015 and Eastbourne International in 2018.
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. At 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.
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 in June 2006. The following week, she reached another Grade-2 final, but this time in Casablanca, 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.
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. 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 "Città di Santa Croce". The following week, she played at the Trofeo Bonfiglio and reached quarterfinal, losing there to Anastasia Pivovarova. At the 2007 French Open, she made her major 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 in 2007, she lost in the first round to Arantxa Rus; in doubles, she reached semifinal alongside Oksana Kalashnikova. They lost to Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara. The 2008 French Open was her last junior tournament, she lost in the first round in both singles and doubles.
2005–10: Early professional years
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. 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, she had her first major 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, but lost to Shahar Pe'er in the first round.
She made her ITF Circuit doubles debut 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 event in Bucharest, alongside Simona Halep. At the 2009 Palermo Ladies Open, 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 a 50k event in Madrid and the 75k Toyota World Challenge.
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 in straight sets in the final. In April, as a qualifier, she reached her first WTA Tour final at the Andalucia Tennis Experience. On her way to the final, she defeated then-top 40 Klára Koukalová and top 20 Svetlana Kuznetsova, before losing to Victoria Azarenka in the final. At the French Open, she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut. She recorded her first major win and 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 final at the Hungarian Open, but lost to Roberta Vinci. After that, she won the 100k Bucharest event, defeating Laura Pous Tió in the final. She reached the semifinals of the Texas Open but lost to Sabine Lisicki. During the year, she progressed in the rankings, debuting in the top 100 in April and 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, 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 Tour semifinal at the Palermo Ladies Open, 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. She did even better in September, when she won her first WTA Tour title, defeating Donna Vekić in the final. There, she also defeated top-50 players Alizé Cornet and Urszula Radwańska. She followed this with semifinal of the Linz Open, where Victoria Azarenka defeated her.
Begu started year of 2011 well, winning title at the 100k tournament in Cali, as her first doubles tournament of the year. In June 2011, she won another 100k title in Marseille. At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, 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 with the title at the Hobart International, her first WTA Tour doubles title, partnered with Monica Niculescu. She followed this with quarterfinal of the Australian Open, again with Niculescu. Then, in April, she reached the final of the Morocco Open, but finished runners-up with Alexandra Cadanțu. In July, she won the 100k Bucharest event for the second year in-a-row. Begu finished year reaching the final at the Luxembourg Open. During these two seasons, she debuted in the top 100 in February 2011, then in the top 50 in late January 2012.