Irina Spîrlea

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

Irina Spîrlea is one of the most successful Romanian female tennis players, being one of only three to have reached the top 10 (the others being Virginia Ruzici and Simona Halep.) Her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament was a semi-final at the US Open in 1997. She won the WTA's 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 "gutter Italian" during a match played in Palermo, Italy.

Spîrlea is known for a bumping incident with Venus Williams during a changeover in the semi-finals of the 1997 US Open. Spîrlea 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, 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 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'.

Singles: 10 (4–6)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	27 September 1993	Sapporo	Carpet (i)	Linda Wild	4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	25 April 1994	Taranto	Clay	Julie Halard-Decugis	2–6, 3–6
Winner	1.	4 July 1994	Palermo	Clay	Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	6–4, 1–6, 7–6(7–5)
Runner-up	3.	2 January 1995	Jakarta	Hard	Sabine Hack	6–2, 6–7(6–8), 4–6
Winner	2.	10 July 1995	Palermo	Clay	Sabine Hack	7–6(7–1), 6–2
Winner	3.	8 April 1996	Amelia Island	Clay	Mary Pierce	6–7(7–9), 6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	4.	3 March 1997	Indian Wells	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	2–6, 1–6
Runner-up	5.	30 March 1998	Hilton Head Island	Clay	Amanda Coetzer	3–6, 4–6
Winner	4.	18 May 1998	Strasbourg	Clay	Julie Halard-Decugis	7–6(7–5), 6–3
Runner-up	6.	19 April 1999	Cairo	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	1–6, 0–6

Doubles: 13 (6–7)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	25 April 1994	Taranto	Clay	Noëlle van Lottum	Sandra Cecchini Isabelle Demongeot	6–3, 2–6, 6–1
Winner	2.	2 January 1995	Jakarta	Hard	Claudia Porwik	Laurence Courtois Nancy Feber	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	1	24 April 1995	Zagreb	Clay	Laura Golarsa	Mercedes Paz Rene Simpson	5–7, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	29 January 1996	Tokyo	Carpet (i)	Mariaan de Swardt	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	6–7(7–9), 3–6
Winner	3.	6 May 1996	Rome	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Gigi Fernández Martina Hingis	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	4 November 1996	Oakland	Carpet (i)	Nathalie Tauziat	Lindsay Davenport Mary Joe Fernández	1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	4.	19 May 1997	Madrid	Clay	Inés Gorrochategui	Mary Joe Fernández Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	5.	2 November 1998	Leipzig	Carpet (i)	Manon Bollegraf	Elena Likhovtseva Ai Sugiyama	3–6, 7–6(7–2), 1–6
Runner-up	6.	4 January 1999	Gold Coast	Hard	Kristine Kunce	Corina Morariu Larisa Neiland	3–6, 3–6
Winner	4.	22 February 1999	Paris	Carpet (i)	Caroline Vis	Elena Likhovtseva Ai Sugiyama	7–5, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	7.	19 April 1999	Cairo	Clay	Caroline Vis	Laurence Courtois Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	7–5, 1–6, 6–7(7–9)
Winner	5.	20 September 1999	Luxembourg	Carpet (i)	Caroline Vis	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	6–1, 6–2
Winner	6.	25 October 1999	Linz	Carpet (i)	Caroline Vis	Tina Križan Larisa Neiland	6–4, 6–3

• A = did not participate in the tournament.
• SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

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.