Abigail Spears Explained

Abigail Spears
Residence:	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Birth Date:	12 July 1981
Birth Place:	San Diego, California
Height:	1.750NaN0
Turnedpro:	October 2000
Retired:	2021
Coach:	Larry Willens
Plays:	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney:	$2,994,112
Singlestitles:	0
Highestsinglesranking:	No. 66 (June 6, 2005)
Australianopenresult:	3R (2005)
Frenchopenresult:	1R (2005)
Wimbledonresult:	1R (2005)
Usopenresult:	1R (2004, 2005)
Doublestitles:	21
Highestdoublesranking:	No. 10 (March 2, 2015)
Australianopendoublesresult:	SF (2014)
Frenchopendoublesresult:	3R (2004)
Wimbledondoublesresult:	SF (2015, 2016, 2018)
Usopendoublesresult:	QF (2008)
Mixed:	yes
Mixedtitles:	1
Australianopenmixedresult:	W (2017)
Frenchopenmixedresult:	QF (2018)
Wimbledonmixedresult:	QF (2018)
Usopenmixedresult:	F (2013, 2014)
Updated:	February 3, 2020

Abigail Michal Spears (born July 12, 1981)^[1] is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She started playing in 1988 when she was 7 years old. She was number 10 in the world for doubles. Outside of tennis she enjoys watching movies and going to the beach to surf or play beach volleyball. Her idols are Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.

She was suspended for doping offences from 7 November 2019 until 7 September 2021.^[2] She retired on 16 September 2021.

Biography

July 12, 1981 Abigail Spears was born in San Diego, California.

2000–2011

Spears turned professional in 2000.^[3] She reached the third round at the 2005 Australian Open^[4] and the first round at the 2005 French Open, 2005 Wimbledon tournament (where she also reached the third round in the doubles tournament with Lisa McShea), and the 2005 US Open.^[5] ^[6] She reached the third round at the 2008 Wimbledon doubles tournament with Raquel Kops-Jones, and the duo bettered that result by reaching the quarterfinals at the 2008 US Open.

Spears also qualified in singles for the US Open twice.^[7] She achieved a singles ranking of world No. 66 on June 6, 2005. Her highest doubles ranking was world No. 11 on June 24, 2013. Spears has not won a WTA singles title, but as of the end of December 2018 she has won 21 WTA doubles titles.^[3] She participated in the US Open doubles draw eleven times between 1998 and 2010.^[7]

2012

Spears and compatriot Raquel Kops-Jones were one of the most successful doubles team of the 2012 season, winning four titles at Carlsbad, Seoul, Tokyo and Osaka. The pair also reached two other finals as well as the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

2017: Grand Slam breakthrough

2017 was expected to be Spears' farewell year on tour.^[8] At the Australian Open, she partnered with Juan Sebastián Cabal to win the mixed-doubles tournament. In the final, they defeated the second-seeded team of Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig 6–2, 6–4. The American-Colombian duo recovered from a 1–4 deficit in the second set to reel off five straight games to clinch the title. It was a revenge match for Spears, having lost to Mirza the last time she made it to a Grand Slam final losing 9–11 in the super tiebreak to Mirza and Bruno Soares at the 2014 US Open.

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	width=150	Championship	Surface	width=200	Partner	width=200	Opponents	width=140	Score
Runner-up			Hard	Santiago González	Andrea Hlaváčková Max Mirnyi	6–7^(5–7), 3–6
Runner-up			Hard	Santiago González		1–6, 6–2, [9–11]
Winner			Hard	Juan Sebastián Cabal		6–2, 6–4

Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 finals

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	width=150	Championship	Surface	width=200	Partner	width=200	Opponents	width=140	Score
Runner-up	2012	Doha	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Liezel Huber Lisa Raymond	3–6, 1–6
Winner	2012	Tokyo	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Květa Peschke	6–1, 6–4
Winner	2014	Cincinnati	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Tímea Babos Kristina Mladenovic	6–1, 2–0 ret.

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Winner — Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tour Championships (0–0)
Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0)
Tier II / Premier (0–0)
Tier III, IV & V / International (0–1)

Doubles: 31 (21 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Winner — Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tour Championships (0–0)
Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (2–1)
Tier II / Premier (8–5)
Tier III, IV & V / International (11–4)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	January 5, 2003	Auckland Open, New Zealand	Hard	Teryn Ashley	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	6–2, 2–6, 6–0
Win	2.	August 15, 2004	Odlum Brown Vancouver Open, Canada	Hard	Bethanie Mattek	Els Callens Anna-Lena Grönefeld	6–3, 6–3
Loss	1.	February 19, 2005	Cellular South Cup, United States	Hard	Laura Granville	Yuka Yoshida Miho Saeki	3–6, 4–6
Win	3.	July 24, 2005	Western & Southern Women's Open, United States	Hard	Laura Granville	Květa Peschke María Emilia Salerni	3–6, 6–2, 6–4
Win	4.	May 10, 2009	Estoril Open, Portugal	Clay	Raquel Kops-Jones	Sharon Fichman Katalin Marosi	2–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Loss	2.	June 14, 2009	Aegon Classic, Birmingham, Great Britain	Grass	Raquel Kops-Jones	Cara Black Liezel Huber	1–6, 4–6
Win	5.	September 27, 2009	Hansol Korea Open, Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Chan Yung-jan	Carly Gullickson Nicole Kriz	6–3, 6–4
Loss	3.	October 18, 2009	HP Open, Osaka, Japan	Hard	Chanelle Scheepers	Lisa Raymond Chuang Chia-jung	2–6, 4–6
Loss	4.	August 7, 2011	Mercury Insurance Open, San Diego, United States	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	0–6, 2–6
Win	6.	September 18, 2011	Bell Challenge, Quebec City	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Jamie Hampton Anna Tatishvili	6–0, 3–6, [10–6]
Loss	5.	January 7, 2012	Brisbane International, Australia	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Nuria Llagostera Vives Arantxa Parra Santonja	6–7^(2–7), 6–7^(2–7)
Loss	6.	February 19, 2012	Qatar Ladies Open, Doha	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Liezel Huber Lisa Raymond	3–6, 1–6
Win	7.	July 23, 2012	Mercury Insurance Open, Carlsbad, United States	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Vania King Nadia Petrova	6–2, 6–4
Win	8.	September 23, 2012	Hansol Korea Open, Seoul	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Akgul Amanmuradova Vania King	2–6, 6–2, [10–8]
Win	9.	September 29, 2012	Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Květa Peschke	6–1, 6–4
Win	10.	October 14, 2012	HP Open, Osaka	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Kimiko Date-Krumm Heather Watson	6–1, 6–4
Win	11.	July 29, 2013	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, United States	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Julia Görges Darija Jurak	6–2, 7–6^(7–4)
Win	12.	August 5, 2013	Southern California Open, Carlsbad, United States	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Chan Hao-ching Janette Husárová	6–4, 6–1
Loss	7.	September 22, 2013	KDB Korea Open, Seoul	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones		5–7, 3–6
Loss	8.	February 22, 2014	Dubai Tennis Championships, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Alla Kudryavtseva Anastasia Rodionova	2–6, 7–5, [8–10]
Win	13.	June 15, 2014	Aegon Classic, Birmingham	Grass	Raquel Kops-Jones	Ashleigh Barty Casey Dellacqua	7–6^(7–1), 6–1
Win	14.	August 18, 2014	Cincinnati Masters, United States	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Tímea Babos Kristina Mladenovic	6–1, 2–0 ret.
Loss	9.	January 16, 2015	Apia International Sydney, Australia	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Sania Mirza	3–6, 3–6
Win	15.	February 28, 2015	Qatar Total Open, Doha	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Hsieh Su-wei Sania Mirza	6–4, 6–4
Win	16.	June 14, 2015	Aegon Nottingham Open, Great Britain	Grass	Raquel Kops-Jones	Jocelyn Rae Anna Smith	3–6, 6–3, [11–9]
Win	17.	October 18, 2015	Generali Ladies Linz, Austria	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	6–3, 7–5
Win	18.	July 23, 2016	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford	Hard	Raquel Atawo	Darija Jurak Anastasia Rodionova	6–3, 6–4
Win	19.	February 18, 2017	Qatar Total Open, Doha	Hard	Katarina Srebotnik	Olga Savchuk Yaroslava Shvedova	6–3, 7–6^(9–7)
Loss	10.	April 30, 2017	Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany	Clay (i)	Katarina Srebotnik	Raquel Atawo Jeļena Ostapenko	4–6, 4–6
Win	20.	August 6, 2017	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford	Hard	CoCo Vandeweghe	Alizé Cornet Alicja Rosolska	6–2, 6–3
Win	21.	June 17, 2018	Nottingham Open, Great Britain	Grass	Alicja Rosolska	Mihaela Buzărnescu Heather Watson	6–3, 7–6^(7–5)

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Tournament	2004	2005	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	3R	0 / 1	2–1
French Open	A	1R	0 / 1	0–1
Wimbledon	A	1R	0 / 1	0–1
US Open	1R	1R	0 / 2	0–2
style=text-align:left	Win–loss	0–1	2–4	0 / 5	2–5

Doubles

width=140	Tournament!	width=38	1998!	width=38	1999!	width=38	2000!	width=38	2001!	width=38	2002!	width=38	2003!	width=38	2004!	width=38	2005!	width=38	2006!	width=38	2007!	width=38	2008!	width=38	2009!	width=38	2010!	width=38	2011!	width=38	2012!	width=38	2013!	width=38	2014!	width=38	2015!	width=38	2016!	width=38	2017!	width=38	2018!	width=38	2019!	width=60	!	width=60
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	A	2R	1R	3R	1R	2R	SF	QF	2R	1R	2R	2R	0 / 16	15–16
French Open	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	3R	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	1R	3R	0 / 14	9–14
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	1R	3R	1R	A	3R	1R	1R	2R	QF	3R	3R	SF	SF	1R	SF	3R	0 / 17	26–17
US Open	1R	1R	A	1R	2R	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	QF	1R	1R	1R	3R	2R	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	2R	0 / 21	11–21
style=text-align:left	Win–loss	0–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–4	2–4	2–4	2–3	0–3	0–1	5–2	1–4	0–4	3–4	6–4	4–4	7–4	9–4	6–4	1–4	5–4	6–4	0 / 68	61–68
WTA Premier Mandatory tournaments
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	2R	A	A	A	2R	2R	2R	1R	1R	2R	1R	QF	1R	1R	2R	0 / 14	8–14
Miami	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q2	A	A	A	QF	2R	1R	1R	1R	SF	1R	1R	1R	1R	QF	0 / 11	8–11
Madrid	Not Held	1R	1R	1R	1R	QF	QF	2R	1R	1R	QF	1R	0 / 11	7–11
Beijing	Not Held	Not Tier I	A	A	QF	QF	QF	QF	1R	1R	1R	QF	1R	0 / 9	10–9

Notes and References

Web site: Abigail Spears: Profile . University of California, Los Angeles . November 13, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120609113702/http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/w-tennis/mtt/spears_abigail00.html . June 9, 2012 .
Web site: ITF Tennis – ANTIDOPING.
Web site: Abigail Spears: Info . https://web.archive.org/web/20101207005711/http://www.wtatour.com/player/abigail-spears_2257889_7926 . December 7, 2010 . November 13, 2010 . Women's Tennis Association.
News: Dillman. Lisa. Nerves Have Been Her Toughest Opponent. Los Angeles Times. January 21, 2005. November 13, 2010.
Web site: Abigail Spears: Stats. Women's Tennis Association. November 13, 2010.
Web site: Wimbledon 2005 Ladies' Doubles Championship. Women's Tennis Association. 3. November 13, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120829175522/https://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Archive/Draws/2005/904.pdf . 2012-08-29.
Web site: Women's Bios: Abigail Spears. US Open. November 13, 2010.
News: Spears, Cabal win mixed doubles, continue 30s theme in Oz. February 16, 2017. USA Today. The Associated Press. January 29, 2017. Melbourne. Spears was striving to win her first Grand Slam title in her farewell year. She plans to retire at the end of this season after a career in which she was twice runner-up in mixed doubles finals with Mexican Santiago González at the U.S. Open in 2013 and 2014..