Irina Spîrlea

Irina Spîrlea
Country (sports)	Romania
Residence	Rome, Italy
Born	26 March 1974; Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	1990
Retired	2000
Plays	Right-handed (one handed-backhand)
Prize money	US$ 2,652,068
Singles
Career record	291–189 (60.6%)
Career titles	4 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 7 (13 October 1997)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	QF (1997)
French Open	4R (1994, 1996, 1997)
Wimbledon	4R (1997, 1998)
US Open	SF (1997)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	SF (1997, 1998)
Doubles
Career record	200–154
Career titles	6 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 16 (2 October 1995)

Irina Spîrlea (born 26 March 1974) is a retired tennis player from Romania who turned professional in 1990. She won four singles and six doubles titles. Spîrlea reached her career-high ranking on the WTA Tour on 13 October 1997, when she became No. 7 in the world. She retired in 2000.

Personal life

Spîrlea married Massimiliano Pace, her former coach, in 2001, and has a son, Tommaso, born in 2002, as well as a younger daughter, Francesca.[1][2]

Career

Irina Spîrlea is one of the more successful tennis players from Romania, being one of only three women to have reached the top 10 (the others being Virginia Ruzici and Simona Halep.)[3] Her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament was a semifinal at the US Open in 1997. She won the WTA Newcomer of the Year award in 1994.[4]

In 1996, Spîrlea became the first player in the history of the Women's Tennis Association to receive a match default for conduct when she swore at an official in Italian during a match played in Palermo, Italy.[5][6]

Spîrlea was involved in a bumping incident with Venus Williams during a changeover in the semifinals of the 1997 US Open. Spîrlea collided with Williams near the net post while changing ends, and did not move sideways. Spîrlea went on to lose the match 6–7, 6–4, 6–7 in a third-set tiebreak, after holding two match points, at 6–4 and 6–5 in the tie breaker. Williams' father accused Spîrlea of racism, and later called her "an ugly white turkey".[7] Spîrlea accused Williams of arrogance, saying in a press conference following the match, "I'm not going to move. She never tries to turn (...) She thinks she's the fucking Venus Williams."[8][9][7] Spîrlea subsequently had to pay $5,000 fine for using an obscenity.[10] At the following Grand Slam tournament, the 1998 Australian Open, Spîrlea was the first opponent of Venus' sister, Serena Williams in the main draw and lost in three sets.[11]

WTA career finals

Singles: 10 (4 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tier I (0–2)
Tier II (1–0)
Tier III, IV & V (3–4)

Titles by surface
Hard (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Clay (4–3)
Carpet (0–1)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	Sep 1993	Sapporo, Japan	Carpet (i)	Linda Wild	4–6, 3–6
Loss	2.	Apr 1994	Taranto Trophy, Italy	Clay	Julie Halard-Decugis	2–6, 3–6
Win	1.	Jul 1994	Palermo International, Italy	Clay	Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	6–4, 1–6, 7–6^(7–5)
Loss	3.	Jan 1995	Jakarta Open, Indonesia	Hard	Sabine Hack	6–2, 6–7^(6–8), 4–6
Win	2.	Jul 1995	Palermo International, Italy	Clay	Sabine Hack	7–6^(7–1), 6–2
Win	3.	Apr 1996	Amelia Island Championships, U.S.	Clay	Mary Pierce	6–7^(7–9), 6–4, 6–3
Loss	4.	Mar 1997	Indian Wells Masters, U.S.	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	2–6, 1–6
Loss	5.	Mar 1998	Family Circle Cup, U.S.	Clay	Amanda Coetzer	3–6, 4–6
Win	4.	May 1998	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	Clay	Julie Halard-Decugis	7–6^(7–5), 6–3
Loss	6.	Apr 1999	Egypt Classic	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	1–6, 0–6

Doubles: 13 (6 titles, 7 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tier I (1–1)
Tier II (2–2)
Tier III, IV & V (3–4)

Titles by surface
Hard (1–1)
Grass (0–0)
Clay (2–3)
Carpet (3–3)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	Apr 1994	Taranto Trophy, Italy	Clay	Noëlle van Lottum	Sandra Cecchini Isabelle Demongeot	6–3, 2–6, 6–1
Win	2.	Jan 1995	Jakarta Open, Indonesia	Hard	Claudia Porwik	Laurence Courtois Nancy Feber	6–2, 6–3
Loss	1	Apr 1995	Bol Ladies Open, Croatia	Clay	Laura Golarsa	Mercedes Paz Rene Simpson	5–7, 2–6
Loss	2.	Jan 1996	Pan Pacific Open, Japan	Carpet (i)	Mariaan de Swardt	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	6–7^(7–9), 3–6
Win	3.	May 1996	Italian Open	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Gigi Fernández Martina Hingis	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Loss	3.	Nov 1996	Bank of the West Classic, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Nathalie Tauziat	Lindsay Davenport Mary Joe Fernández	1–6, 3–6
Loss	4.	May 1997	Madrid Open, Spain	Clay	Inés Gorrochategui	Mary Joe Fernández Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	3–6, 2–6
Loss	5.	Nov 1998	Sparkassen Cup Leipzig, Germany	Carpet (i)	Manon Bollegraf	Elena Likhovtseva Ai Sugiyama	3–6, 7–6^(7–2), 1–6
Loss	6.	Jan 1999	Brisbane International, Australia	Hard	Kristine Kunce	Corina Morariu Larisa Neiland	3–6, 3–6
Win	4.	Feb 1999	Paris Indoor, France	Carpet (i)	Caroline Vis	Elena Likhovtseva Ai Sugiyama	7–5, 3–6, 6–3
Loss	7.	Apr 1999	Egypt Classic	Clay	Caroline Vis	Laurence Courtois Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	7–5, 1–6, 6–7^(7–9)
Win	5.	Sep 1999	Luxembourg Open	Carpet (i)	Caroline Vis	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	6–1, 6–2
Win	6.	Oct 1999	Generali Ladies Linz, Austria	Carpet (i)	Caroline Vis	Tina Križan Larisa Neiland	6–4, 6–3

ITF Circuit finals

Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles (3–1)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	24 September 1990	Mali Lošinj, Yugoslavia	Clay	Ruxandra Dragomir	3–6, 1–6
Winner	2.	3 June 1991	Milan, Italy	Clay	Agnès Zugasti	6–4, 7–5
Winner	3.	3 February 1992	Jakarta, Indonesia	Clay	Ann Devries	6–3, 6–2
Winner	4.	14 June 1993	Brindisi, Italy	Clay	Petra Kamstra	6–1, 5–7, 6–3

Doubles (5–8)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	13 August 1990	Rebecq, Belgium	Clay	Ruxandra Dragomir	Els Callens Caroline Wuillot	4–6, 2–6
Winner	2.	20 August 1990	Koksijde, Belgium	Clay	Ruxandra Dragomir	Erda Crous Lucie Ludvigová	6–1, 2–6, 6–3
Winner	3.	17 September 1990	Rabac, Yugoslavia	Clay	Ruxandra Dragomir	Katarína Studeníková Gabriela Vesela	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	4.	24 September 1990	Mali Lošinj, Yugoslavia	Clay	Anna Mirza	Eva Martincová Zdeňka Málková	1–6, 1–6
Winner	5.	8 October 1990	Bol, Croatia	Clay	Magdalena Feistel	Eva Martincová Zdeňka Málková	4–6, 6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	6.	29 May 1991	Brindisi, Italy	Clay	Katarína Studeníková	Patricia Miller Inés Gorrochategui	1–6, 6–7
Runner-up	7.	29 July 1991	Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany	Clay	Meike Babel	Catarina Bernstein Annika Narbe	4–6, 5–7
Runner-up	8.	12 August 1991	Pisticci, Italy	Hard	Ruxandra Dragomir	Justine Hodder Maja Murić	4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Runner-up	9.	3 February 1992	Jakarta, Indonesia	Clay	Ruxandra Dragomir	Nicole Pratt Angie Woolcock	1–6, 0–6
Winner	10.	28 September 1992	Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy	Clay	Ann Devries	Ginevra Mugnaini Andreea Ehritt-Vanc	6–0, 6–0
Runner-up	11.	22 November 1992	Nottingham, United Kingdom	Carpet (i)	Ruxandra Dragomir	Els Callens Elena Pampoulova	6–7^(3–7), 4–6
Winner	12.	30 November 1992	Le Havre, France	Clay	Ruxandra Dragomir	Angela Kerek Sabine Lohmann	6–3, 7–6
Runner-up	13.	14 June 1993	Brindisi, Italy	Clay	Angela Kerek	Lara Bitter Petra Kamstra	5–7, 6–4, 2–6

Singles performance timeline

**Key**
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	DNQ	A	NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	SR	W–L	W%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	1R	4R	2R	QF	1R	1R	1R	0 / 7	8–7	53%
French Open	A	A	1R	A	4R	3R	4R	4R	1R	3R	1R	0 / 8	13–8	62%
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	2R	3R	2R	4R	4R	1R	1R	0 / 7	10–7	59%
US Open	A	A	Q1	A	1R	1R	3R	SF	4R	3R	A	0 / 6	12–6	67%
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	4–4	7–4	7–4	15–4	6–4	4–4	0–3	0 / 28	43–28	61%
Year-end championships
Tour Championships	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	SF	SF	A	A	0 / 3	4–3	57%
Tier I tournaments
Tokyo	Tier II			A	A	A	2R	2R	QF	A	A	0 / 3	4–3	57%
Chicago	A	Tier II							Not Held			0 / 0	0–0	0%
Boca Raton	Tier II	A	A	Tier II			Not Held					0 / 1	0–1	0%
Indian Wells	Tier II							F	3R	2R	2R	0 / 5	8–5	62%
Miami	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	QF	QF	2R	2R	2R	0 / 7	8–7	53%
Charleston	A	A	A	A	1R	3R	QF	3R	F	2R	A	0 / 6	11–6	65%
Berlin	A	A	A	A	A	SF	A	3R	QF	1R	1F	0 / 5	7–5	58%
Rome	A	A	Q1	A	SF	3R	SF	QF	3R	3R	1R	0 / 8	15–8	65%
Montreal / Toronto	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	3R	1R	A	0 / 4	1–4	20%
Moscow	Tier V		Not Held		Tier III			QF	1R	A	A	0 / 2	1–2	33%
Zürich	Tier II			A	A	1R	2R	2R	SF	2R	A	0 / 5	6–5	55%
Philadelphia	NH	Tier II		A	A	QF	Tier II					0 / 4	5–4	56%
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	310	208	164	63	43	21	10	8	15	35	167

Record against other top players

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

Players who have been ranked world No. 1 are in boldface.

References

Article in Romanian Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
Article in Romanian
Article in Romanian Archived 12 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
"Women's Tennis News | WTA Tennis".
The Enquirer – This article is no longer available
CNN/SI – US Open Player Profiles
sportsillustrated.cnn.com
"telegraph.co.uk". Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
Harris, Cecil (1 February 2020). Different Strokes: Serena, Venus, and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-1-4962-1465-2.
"WashingtonPost.com: In the Name of the Daughters". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
Steve Wilstein (19 January 1998). "Serena Williams Beats Irina Spirlea". AP.

External links

Irina Spîrlea at the Women's Tennis Association
Irina Spîrlea at the International Tennis Federation
Irina Spîrlea at the Billie Jean King Cup

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[1] Article in Romanian Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine

[2] Article in Romanian

[3] Article in Romanian Archived 12 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine

[4] "Women's Tennis News | WTA Tennis".

[5] The Enquirer – This article is no longer available

[6] CNN/SI – US Open Player Profiles

[sportsillustrated.cnn.com-7] sportsillustrated.cnn.com

[8] "telegraph.co.uk". Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2007.

[9] Harris, Cecil (1 February 2020). Different Strokes: Serena, Venus, and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-1-4962-1465-2.

[10] "WashingtonPost.com: In the Name of the Daughters". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 10 April 2022.

[11] Steve Wilstein (19 January 1998). "Serena Williams Beats Irina Spirlea". AP.