Irina Maria Bara (born 18 March 1995) is a professional tennis player from Romania.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 104, achieved on 18 April 2022. On 13 May 2019, she peaked at No. 56 in the WTA doubles rankings. She won her maiden WTA Tour doubles title at the 2021 Transylvania Open, partnering Ekaterine Gorgodze. Bara has also won five doubles titles on the WTA Challenger Tour, with 11 singles and 36 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit, most of them on clay.
In singles, she reached a 100k and an 80k finals, three finals at 60k events, but lost all of them, having 25k as the highest category tournament that she won. In doubles, she won a couple of 60k and 80k tournaments, but also won one 100k event, the 2016 Soho Square Tournament in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt.
Bara is better known for her performances in doubles, reaching the top 100. Her most significant result so far is a quarterfinal at the 2018 French Open, partnering with Mihaela Buzărnescu. In 2019, she also reached quarterfinals of the Madrid Open, again with Buzărnescu. In singles, her best result so far is a third round at the 2020 French Open on her Grand Slam singles debut, also her first major singles match win. The highest round she reached in singles is the quarterfinals, at the 2019 Baltic Open, while in doubles, she reached a couple of semifinals, but never a final. She made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2015 Bucharest Open in the doubles event, partnering Buzărnescu, while her first match in a singles event was two years later, at the same tournament, when she, as a wildcard player, lost in the first round to Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Career 2017–19: WTA Tour debut, first quarterfinal & top 200
Bara made her WTA Tour debut in singles at the 2017 Bucharest Open, when she lost as a wildcard player in the first round to Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Her next WTA tournament was also there, in 2018; she realized her first WTA Tour singles match-win, defeating Viktoriya Tomova in the first round, and then lost to Polona Hercog. At the 2018 Moscow River Cup, she defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova before she was eliminated by Anastasija Sevastova in the second round.
In 2019, at the Baltic Open in Jūrmala, she reached her first and so far only quarterfinal, where she beat two Russian players, Margarita Gasparyan and Valentina Ivakhnenko, in the first two rounds, before losing to Sevastova. Her other WTA Tour performances that year were unsuccessful, losing in the first round in Acapulco to Beatriz Haddad Maia, in Bogotá to Sara Errani, in İstanbul to fellow Romanian Sorana Cîrstea, in Rabat to Hercog, and finally in Bucharest to Jaimee Fourlis.
On 17 July 2017, Bara entered top 200 for the first time, getting to No. 199. On 2 July 2018, she entered the top 150, reaching No. 150. On 13 August 2018, she rose to No. 139, her highest singles ranking until 2020. Until 2020, Bara did not reach a main-draw at any Grand Slam tournament. She failed in qualifying at all four events, in both 2018 and 2019, as well as at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2017.
2020: Major debut & third round at the French Open In March, Bara entered the main draw of the Lyon Open, passing through qualifying. In the main draw, she beat Tímea Babos, and then lost to Daria Kasatkina in the second round. In late September, Bara played the qualifying for the French Open, where she qualified for the first time for the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. The other significant thing there was that she also recorded her first win, defeating 26th seed Donna Vekić in straight sets. She passed the second round due to the retirement of Alison Van Uytvanck. In the third round, against No. 3 seed Sofia Kenin, she won only two games. Two weeks later, Bara reached a new career-high singles ranking, as world No. 115.
2021: First WTA Tour doubles & three more Challenger titles In May, Bara played her first 100k final in Bonita Springs which she lost to Katie Volynets. She played in the main draw at the French Open but lost to Astra Sharma. As a result, she reached a new career-high singles ranking of world No. 112. In September, Irina won her first out of three WTA 125 titles in the season, partnering with Ekaterine Gorgodze. In October, Bara won her first WTA Tour title, playing again with Gorgodze at the Transylvania Open in her home country.
2022: WTA 125 doubles title Partnered with Sara Errani, Bara won the doubles title at the WTA 125 Argentina Open, defeating Jang Su-jeong and You Xiaodi in the final.
Performance timelines
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup, United Cup, Hopman Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
Singles current through the 2025 Indian Wells Tournament201720182019202020212022202320242025Win %Grand Slam tournaments Australian OpenAQ2Q1Q1Q1 1RQ1Q2A0 / 10–1 French OpenAQ3Q13R1R1RAQ1A0 / 32–3 WimbledonQ1Q2Q2NHQ12RQ1Q1A0 / 11–1 US OpenQ2Q1Q1AQ1Q1Q2Q2A0 / 00–0Win–loss0–00–00–02–10–11–30–00–00–00 / 43–5National representation Billie Jean King CupAAAQRAQR0 / 00–1WTA 1000Dubai / Qatar OpenAAQ1AAQ1AAA0 / 00–0Indian Wells OpenAAANHAQ1AAA0 / 00–0Miami OpenAAANHAAAAA0 / 00–0Madrid OpenAQ1Q2NHAAAAA0 / 00–0Italian OpenAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0Career statistics201720182019202020212022202320242025Win %Tournaments226210702Career total: 29Titles00000000Career total: 0Finals00000000Career total: 0Hard win–loss0–00–00–11–11–50–30–00–00 / 92–10Clay win–loss0–22–22–52–13–62–30–02–20 / 2113–21Grass win–loss0–00–00–00–00–01–10–00–00 / 11–1Overall win–loss0–22–22–63–24–113–70–02-20 / 3216–32Year-end ranking214141161119132173173260$1,422,086
Doubles current through the 2023 season Tournament201520162017201820192020202120222023Win %Grand Slam tournaments Australian OpenAAAA3R1RA1RA0 / 32–3 French OpenAAAQF1R1RA1RA0 / 43–4 WimbledonAAA1R1RNHA1RA0 / 30–3 US OpenAAA1RAAA1RA0 / 20–2Win–loss0–00–00–03–32–30–20–00–40–00 / 125–12National representation Billie Jean King CupAAAAAQRAQR0 / 00–1WTA 1000Dubai / Qatar OpenAAA A2RAA1RA0 / 21–2Indian Wells OpenAAAAANHAAA0 / 00–0Miami OpenAAAAANHAAA0 / 00–0Madrid OpenAAAAQFNHAAA0 / 12–1Italian OpenAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0Win–loss0–00–00–00–03–20–00–00–10–00 / 33–3Career statistics201520162017201820192020202120222023Win %Tournaments11191348111Career total: 49Titles000000100Career total: 1Finals000000100Career total: 1Overall win–loss0–10–11–310–910–121–48–53–112–21 / 4935–48Year-end ranking290152132778510696108120
WTA Tour finals Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up) LegendWTA 500WTA 250 (1–1)Finals by surfaceHard (1–0)Clay (0–1) ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1–0 Transylvania Open, Romania WTA 250 Hard (i) Ekaterine Gorgodze Aleksandra Krunić Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove 4–6, 6–1, [11–9]Loss1–1Mar 2025Copa Colsanitas, ColombiaWTA 250Clay Laura Pigossi Cristina Bucșa Sara Sorribes Tormo7–5, 2–6, [5–10]
WTA 125 finals Doubles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runner-ups) ResultW–LDateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1–0 Karlsruhe Open,Germany Clay Ekaterine Gorgodze Katarzyna Piter Mayar Sherif 6–3, 2–6, [10–7]Win 2–0 Buenos Aires Open,Argentine Clay Ekaterine Gorgodze María Lourdes Carlé Despina Papamichail 5–7, 7–5, [10–4]Win 3–0 Montevideo Open,Uruguay Clay Ekaterine Gorgodze Carolina Alves Marina Bassols Ribera 6–4, 6–3Win 4–0 Marbella Open,Spain Clay Ekaterine Gorgodze Vivian Heisen Katarzyna Kawa 6–4, 3–6, [10–6]Win 5–0 Nov 2022Buenos Aires Open,Argentine (2) Clay Sara Errani Jang Su-jeong You Xiaodi 6–1, 7–5Loss 5–1 Iași Open,Romania Clay Monica Niculescu Veronika Erjavec Dalila Jakupović 4–6, 4–6Loss 5–2 Open Villa de Madrid,Spain Clay Darja Semeņistaja Irene Burillo Elena Pridankina 6–4, 3–6, [3–10]Loss 5–3 Internazionali di Brescia,Italy Clay Naïma Karamoko Dalila Jakupović Nika Radišić 4–6, 5–7
ITF Circuit finals Singles: 29 (11 titles, 18 runner-ups) LegendW100 tournaments (0–2)W80 tournaments (0–1)W60 tournaments (1–5)W25/35 tournaments (4–4)W10 tournaments (6–6)Finals by surfaceClay (11–18) ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin 1–0 ITF Bucharest, RomaniaW10 Clay Laura Ioana Andrei 6–4, 6–4Win 2–0 ITF Antalya, TurkeyW10 Clay Hikari Yamamoto 6–4, 6–1Loss 2–1 ITF Galați, RomaniaW10 Clay Patricia Maria Țig 6–7(3), 6–3, 2–6Win 3–1 Nov 2014ITF Antalya, TurkeyW10 Clay Melis Sezer 6–3, 6–2Loss 3–2 Nov 2014ITF Antalya, TurkeyW10 Clay Kristína Schmiedlová 3–6, 2–6Win 4–2 Apr 2015ITF Santa Margherita di Pula, ItalyW10 Clay Stefania Rubini 6–1, 7–5Win 5–2 May 2015ITF Antalya, TurkeyW10 Clay María Fernanda Álvarez Terán 6–7(3), 6–1, 6–0Loss 5–3 Jun 2015ITF Galați, RomaniaW10 Clay Diana Buzean 3–6, 6–4, 3–6Loss 5–4 Sep 2015ITF Varna, BulgariaW10 Clay Isabella Shinikova 6–7(2), 4–6Loss 5–5 Mar 2016ITF Tarragona, SpainW10 Clay Joséphine Boualem 6–7(4), 7–6(1), 2–6Loss 5–6 Mar 2016ITF Hammamet, TunisiaW10 Clay Isabella Shinikova 1–6, 6–4, 6–7(2)Win 6–6 Apr 2016ITF Hammamet, TunisiaW10 Clay Tamara Zidanšek 6–3, 6–3Win 7–6 Sep 2016ITF Hódmezővásárhely, HungaryW25 Clay Dejana Radanović 7–5, 6–4Loss 7–7 Apr 2017ITF Santa Margherita di Pula, ItalyW25 Clay Giulia Gatto-Monticone 6–3, 5–7, 4–6Win 8–7 May 2017ITF Båstad, SwedenW25 Clay Kathinka von Deichmann 7–6(6), 4–6, 6–2Win 9–7 Nov 2017Open de Valencia, SpainW25 Clay Olga Danilović 5–7, 6–4, 6–0Loss 9–8 Apr 2018ITF Indian Harbour Beach, USW60 Clay Caroline Dolehide 4–6, 5–7Loss 9–9 Jun 2018Hódmezővásárhely Ladies Open, HungaryW60 Clay Mariana Duque Mariño 6–4, 5–7, 2–6Loss 9–10 Oct 2019Kiskút Open, HungaryW60 Clay (i) Nicoleta Dascălu 5–7, 2–6Loss 9–11 Sep 2020Open de Cagnes-sur-Mer, FranceW80 Clay Sara Sorribes Tormo 3–6, 4–6Loss 9–12 May 2021Bonita Springs Championship, USW100 Clay Katie Volynets 7–6(4), 6–7(2), 1–6Loss 9–13 Apr 2023Koper Open, SloveniaW60 Clay Aliona Bolsova 6–3, 2–6, 1–4 ret.Win 10–13 Apr 2023ITF Istanbul, TurkeyW60 Clay Berfu Cengiz 6–7(2), 6–4, 6–1Loss 10–14 May 2023Bodrum Tennis Cup, TurkeyW60 Clay María Lourdes Carlé 4–6, 4–6Win 11–14 Oct 2023ITF Heraklion, GreeceW25 Clay Andreea Mitu 6–2, 6–1Loss 11–15 Oct 2024ITF Santa Margherita di Pula, ItalyW35 Clay Matilde Paoletti 6–3, 2–6, 2–6Loss 11–16 Oct 2024ITF Heraklion, GreeceW35 Clay Oleksandra Oliynykova 4–6, 1–6Loss 11–17 Feb 2025ITF Antalya, TurkeyW35 Clay Amarissa Toth 3–6, 3–6Loss 11–18 Apr 2025Charlottesville Open, USW100 Clay Iva Jovic 0–6, 1–6
Doubles: 56 (36 titles, 20 runner-ups) LegendW100 tournaments (2–1)W80 tournaments (2–0)W60 tournaments (8–1)W40/50 tournaments (1–2)W25/35 tournaments (8–6)W10 tournaments (15–10)Finals by surfaceHard (2–3)Clay (34–17)