Irina Spîrlea

Country	Romania
Residence	Rome, Italy
Born	March 26, 1974 (1974-03-26) (age 37) Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.75 m (5' 9")
Turned pro	1990
Retired	2000
Plays	Right-handed
Career prize money	$2,652,068
Singles
Career record	291–189
Career titles	4 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 7 (October 13, 1997)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (1997)
French Open	4r (1994, 1996, 1997)
Wimbledon	4r (1997, 1998)
US Open	SF (1997)
Doubles
Career record	200–154
Career titles	6 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 16 (October 2, 1995)

Irina Spîrlea (born March 26, 1974 in Bucharest) is a former tennis player from Romania, who turned professional in 1990. She won four singles and six doubles titles during her career. The right-hander reached her highest individual ranking on the WTA Tour on October 13, 1997, when she became number 7 in the world. She retired in 2000.

Personal life

Spîrlea married her former coach, Italian Massimiliano Pace, in 2001, and has a son born in 2002.

Controversies

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 "gutter Italian" during a match played in Palermo, Italy.

Spîrlea is known for a bumping incident with Venus Williams during a changeover in the semifinals of the 1997 US Open. Spîrlea deliberately collided with Williams near the net post while changing ends, claiming that Venus Williams was arrogant and didn't move. Spîrlea went on to lose the match 6–7(5), 6–4, 6–7(7) in a third-set tiebreak, after holding two match points, at 6–4 and 6–5 in the tie breaker. Williams' father blamed Spîrlea's racism as the cause of the collision and later called her an "ugly, white turkey". Spîrlea cited Williams' arrogance, saying in a press conference following the match, "I'm not going to move. She never tries to turn" and "She thinks she's the (expletive) Venus Williams." Williams however shrugged off the confrontation saying "I thought we both weren't looking. I'm sorry she feels that way. It's not a big thing to me. No one said 'Excuse me.' " Ironically, at the Australian Open in 1998 she was drawn against Venus' sister, Serena, in the first round. This made her the first-ever opponent of Serena Williams in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. Had Spîrlea won she would have gone on to face Venus in the second round. However, she was defeated by Serena in three sets and the sisters would instead go on to play against each other.

WTA Tour Titles(10)

Singles(4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	1994	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	6–4 1–6 7–6(5)
2.	1995	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Sabine Hack	7–6(1) 6–2
3.	1996	Amelia Island	Clay	Mary Pierce	6–7(7) 6–4 6–3
4.	1998	Strasbourg, France	Clay	Julie Halard-Decugis	7–6(5) 6–3

Doubles(6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Partnering	Surface	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1.	1994	Taranto, Italy	Noëlle van Lottum	Clay	Sandra Cecchini and Isabelle Demongeot	6–3 2–6 6–1
2.	1995	Jakarta, Indonesia	Claudia Porwik	Hard	Laurence Courtois and Nancy Feber	6–2 6–3
3.	1996	Italian Open, Italy	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Clay	Gigi Fernández and Martina Hingis	6–4 3–6 6–3
4.	1999	Paris, France	Caroline Vis	Carpet	Elena Likhovtseva and Ai Sugiyama	7–5 3–6 6–3
5.	1999	Luxembourg	Caroline Vis	Carpet	Tina Križan and Katarina Srebotnik	6–1 6–2
6.	1999	Linz, Austria	Caroline Vis	Carpet	Tina Križan and Larisa Neiland	6–4 6–3

Single Performance Timeline

1. ^ Article in Romanian
2. ^ The Enquirer – This article is no longer available
3. ^ CNN/SI – US Open Player Profiles
4. ^ ^{a b} sportsillustrated.cnn.com
5. ^ telegraph.co.uk
6. ^ Father of tennis star Venus Williams charges racism during recent U.S. Open – Richard Williams | Jet | Find Articles at BNET.com