Bucharest last
\nweek played host to the \u021airiac
\nFoundation Trophy, a WTA 125 competition offering 115 thousand USD in total
\nprizes. The competition’s top eight seeds were players ranked in the WTA Top
\n100, starting Romanians Sorana C\u00eerstea, WTA 38, and Irina Begu, WTA 41. Sorana
\nhowever was knocked out in the opening round by Simona Waltert of Switzerland,
\nWTA 118. Irina, on the other hand, reached and won the final, which is why we
\nhave designated her Athlete of the Week on RRI.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Irina had a
\nstellar performance in Bucharest, finishing the competition without losing a
\nsingle set. In the first round she eased past Laura Pigossi of Brazil, 6-3,
\n6-1. In the second round she took on another Romanian player, Irina Bara,
\nwinning 6-0, 6-2. In the quarterfinals, Irina won 6-1, 6-1 against Kateryna
\nBaindl of Ukraine. In the semi-finals, Irina played Sara Errani of Italy, whom
\nshe defeated 6-2, 6-2. It was a little harder in the final, where Irina played Reka-Luca
\nJani of Hungary. Irina eventually won 6-3, 6-3 at the end of nearly 2 hours of
\nplaytime. For her win in Bucharest, Irina was awarded a 15-thousand-USD check
\nand 160 WTA points. She thus climbed 8 positions in the WTA standings and is
\nnow ranked 33rd. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Irina-Camelia
\nBegu was born in Bucharest. She turned 32 on August 26. The win in Bucharest
\nmarked the second WTA tournament won in 2022, after the one in Palermo in July.
\nIt adds to the competitions won in Tashkent in 2012, in Seoul in 2015, in
\nFlorianopolis in 2016, and in Bucharest in 2017. In doubles competitions, Irina
\nBegu has won nine trophies, in Hobart in 2012 alongside Monica Niculescu, in
\n‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2013 with Anabel Medina Garrigues, in 2014 in Rio de
\nJaneiro with Maria Irigoyen, then later that year in Seoul with Lara
\nArruabarrena, and in 2017 in Bucharest, where she paired up with Raluca Olaru.
\nAlso in 2017 she won the trophy in Tianjin together with Sara Errani. In 2018,
\nBegu won another two WTA doubles titles, in Shenzhen with Simona Halep, and in
\nBucharest with Andreea Mitu. Her last doubles trophy was won in 2019 at the
\nThailand Open, alongside Monica Niculescu. (VP)<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Irina Begu won the \u021airiac Foundation Trophy 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":122931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[29064,42202,33782],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-122930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-irina-begu","tag-the-tiriac-foundation-trophy","tag-wta-standings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n