Radio România Internațional

Tag: WTA tournament in Budapest

  • Athlete of the Week – Tennis player Irina Begu

    Athlete of the Week – Tennis player Irina Begu

    The Hungarian
    capital city Budapest last week played host to a major tennis tournament,
    counting towards the WTA circuit. The event had 250,000 USD in prize money. In
    the tournament’s singles version, Irina Begu and Sorana Carstea were the best-placed
    Romanian competitors. However, Begu and Carstea were unable to go past the
    quarterfinals. In the women’s doubles, Irina Begu and Kazakhstan’s Galina
    Voskoboeva, got through to the semis. In the final, however, Begu and Voskoboeva
    were outclassed by the 3rd seed Hungarian British pair made of Fanny
    Sollar and Heather Watson, 6-2, 6-3. For her noteworthy feat in Budapest, Radio
    Romania International has designated Irina Begu the Athlete of the week.


    Irina Begu was born
    in Bucharest on August 26, 1990. Her first great performance occurred in 2006
    when Begu won the under-16 European title. In April 2011 in Marbella, Begu
    played her first WTA tournament final, where she played as early as the
    qualifiers. However, Begu was defeated by Viktoria Azarenka of the Belarus in
    the final. Then in July the same year in Budapest, Begu sustained another
    defeat in the final, by Italy’s Roberta Vinci. Begu’s record includes four WTA
    titles won in Tashkent in 2012, in Seoul in 2015, in Florianopolis in 2016 and
    in Bucharest, in 2017. In the women’s doubles, Irina Begu boasts no less than
    nine titles in the professional circuit. In 2012, jointly with Monica
    Niculescu, she won the Hobart tournament. Then in 2013, she won the tournament
    in Rio, together with Anabel Medina Garrigues. In Rio in 2014, Begu won the
    title pairing up with Maria Irigoyen, then in Seoul, also in 2014, Begu emerged
    as the winner, jointly with Lara Arruabarrena. Pairing up with Raluca Olaru,
    Begu won the Bucharest tournament in 2017. Also in 2017, Begu won the Tianjin
    tournament, jointly with Sara Errani. In 2018, Begu won two more WTA titles, in
    Shenzhen, when she paired up with Simona Halep, and again in Bucharest,
    together with Andreea Mitu. The beginning of 2019 also proved auspicious for
    Begu as she won the Thailand Open, jointly with Monica Niculescu. In the
    current WTA rankings, Begu is 67th-placed in the singles
    classification and 32nd in the doubles standings.


  • Athletes of the Week – Tennis players Mihaela Buzarnescu and Irina Bara

    Athletes of the Week – Tennis players Mihaela Buzarnescu and Irina Bara

    Last week the city of Budapest in Hungary played host to a WTA tournament totaling 226,750 dollars in prize money. Romania’s representatives in the tournament, Mihaela Buzarnescu and Irina Bara, had an excellent run, reaching the women’s doubles semi-finals. For their achievement, we have designated them Athletes of the Week on Radio Romania International.



    In the main draw’s first round, Mihaela and Irina knocked out Ana Blinkova of Russia and Draija Jurak of Croatia, 7-6, 6-1. In the quarterfinals the Romanian players edged out third-seeds Natela Dzalamidze of Russia and Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia, 6-3, 7-5. In the semi-finals Mihaela and Irina lost to Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium and Johanna Larsson of Sweden, 6-7, 6-4, 10-5.



    Left-handed Mihaela Buzarnescu was born in 1988 in Bucharest. Her best performance in under-21 competitions was winning the US Open women’s doubles in 2006, together with another Romanian, Raluca Olaru. In the women’s singles she is the fourth Romanian tennis player to rank among the world’s top 50, being ranked 38th, her career best. Simona Halep is the world’s number one, Sorana Cirstea is ranked 35th, while Irina Begu is 36th-placed. Buzarnescu is also the fourth Romanian tennis player in the doubles standings, where she is ranked 72nd. Monica Niculescu is in 17th place, Irina Begu is ranked 28th and Raluca Olaru is 48th. Let us also note that Mihaela Buzarnescu holds a PhD in Physical Training and Sports. Her doctoral thesis was focused on improving tennis play in young players by developing their motor and psychological skills.



    Irina Bara was born on March 18, 1995 in Stei, western Romania. Bara specializes in ITF circuits, and has eight wins in singles competitions and 24 in the doubles. She made her debut in a WTA tournament in 2015, in the doubles of the Bucharest Open, alongside Mihaela Buzarnescu. Since then she has constantly climbed the ranks, and is now in 112th place, after going up 13 notches this week alone. In the singles standings she is ranked 167th.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)