Irina Spîrlea

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.

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.) 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.

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.

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". 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." 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.

WTA career finals Singles: 10 (4 titles, 6 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam tournaments (0–0)Tier I (0–2)Tier II (1–0)Tier III, IV & V (3–4) Titles by surfaceHard (0–2)Grass (0–0)Clay (4–3)Carpet (0–1)

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

ITF Circuit finals Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Singles (3–1) ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 1. 24 September 1990 Mali Lošinj, Yugoslavia Clay Ruxandra Dragomir 3–6, 1–6Win 2. 3 June 1991 Milan, Italy Clay Agnès Zugasti 6–4, 7–5Win 3. 3 February 1992 Jakarta, Indonesia Clay Ann Devries 6–3, 6–2Win 4. 14 June 1993 Brindisi, Italy Clay Petra Kamstra 6–1, 5–7, 6–3

Doubles (5–8) ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1. 13 August 1990 Rebecq, Belgium Clay Ruxandra Dragomir Els Callens Caroline Wuillot 4–6, 2–6Win 2. 20 August 1990 Koksijde, Belgium Clay Ruxandra Dragomir Erda Crous Lucie Ludvigová 6–1, 2–6, 6–3Win 3. 17 September 1990 Rabac, Yugoslavia Clay Ruxandra Dragomir Katarína Studeníková Gabriela Vesela 1–6, 6–3, 6–4Loss 4. 24 September 1990 Mali Lošinj, Yugoslavia Clay Anna Mirza Eva Martincová Zdeňka Málková 1–6, 1–6Win 5. 8 October 1990 Bol, Croatia Clay Magdalena Feistel Eva Martincová Zdeňka Málková 4–6, 6–3, 6–1Loss 6. 29 May 1991 Brindisi, Italy Clay Katarína Studeníková Patricia Miller Inés Gorrochategui 1–6, 6–7Loss 7. 29 July 1991 Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany Clay Meike Babel Catarina Bernstein Annika Narbe 4–6, 5–7Loss 8. 12 August 1991 Pisticci, Italy Hard Ruxandra Dragomir Justine Hodder Maja Murić 4–6, 6–3, 3–6Loss 9. 3 February 1992 Jakarta, Indonesia Clay Ruxandra Dragomir Nicole Pratt Angie Woolcock 1–6, 0–6Win 10. 28 September 1992 Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy Clay Ann Devries Ginevra Mugnaini Andreea Ehritt-Vanc 6–0, 6–0Loss 11. 22 November 1992 Nottingham, United Kingdom Carpet (i) Ruxandra Dragomir Els Callens Elena Pampoulova 6–7(3–7), 4–6Win 12. 30 November 1992 Le Havre, France Clay Ruxandra Dragomir Angela Kerek Sabine Lohmann 6–3, 7–6Loss 13. 14 June 1993 Brindisi, Italy Clay Angela Kerek Lara Bitter Petra Kamstra 5–7, 6–4, 2–6

Singles performance timeline

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.

Dominique Monami 6–3 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 5–5 Mary Joe Fernández 4–0 Karina Habšudová 4–1 Amanda Coetzer 4–4 Julie Halard-Decugis 3–2 Ai Sugiyama 3–2 Mary Pierce 3–5 Monica Seles 3–5 Barbara Schett 2–0 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 2–0 Anna Kournikova 2–1 Sandrine Testud 2–1 Gabriela Sabatini 2–2 Chanda Rubin 2–3 Natasha Zvereva 2–5 Lori McNeil 1–0 Paola Suárez 1–0 Andrea Temesvári 1–0 Nathalie Tauziat 1–2 Serena Williams 1–3 Venus Williams 1–3 Conchita Martínez 1–4 Barbara Paulus 1–4 Lindsay Davenport 1–6 Anke Huber 1–7 Kimiko Date 0–1 Zina Garrison 0–1 Martina Navratilova 0–1 Patty Schnyder 0–1 Jennifer Capriati 0–2 Steffi Graf 0–2 Iva Majoli 0–3 Martina Hingis 0–6 Jana Novotná 0–6