Abigail Spears


Abigail Michal Spears is a professional tennis player from the United States.

Biography

2000–2011

Spears turned professional in 2000. She reached the third round at the 2005 Australian Open, and the first round at the 2005 French Open, 2005 Wimbledon tournament and the 2005 US Open. 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. 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. She participated in the US Open doubles draw eleven times between 1998 and 2010.

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 and also the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

2017: Grand Slam breakthrough

2017 was expected to be Spears' farewell year on tour. 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 Spears made it to a Grand Slam final, losing 9–11 in the super tiebreak to Mirza and Bruno Soares at the 2014 US Open. Spears has continued to play on tour and has not retired.

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

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

Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 finals

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

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss1.November 7, 2004Bell Challenge, Quebec City, CanadaHard Martina Suchá5–7, 6–3, 2–6

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

ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1.January 5, 2003Auckland Open, New ZealandHard Teryn Ashley Cara Black
Elena Likhovtseva
6–2, 2–6, 6–0
Win2.August 15, 2004Odlum Brown Vancouver Open, CanadaHard Bethanie Mattek Els Callens
Anna-Lena Grönefeld
6–3, 6–3
Loss1.February 19, 2005Cellular South Cup, United StatesHard Laura Granville Yuka Yoshida
Miho Saeki
3–6, 4–6
Win3.July 24, 2005Western & Southern Women's Open, United StatesHard Laura Granville Květa Peschke
María Emilia Salerni
3–6, 6–2, 6–4
Win4.May 10, 2009Estoril Open, PortugalClay Raquel Kops-Jones Sharon Fichman
Katalin Marosi
2–6, 6–3,
Loss2.June 14, 2009Aegon Classic, Birmingham, Great BritainGrass Raquel Kops-Jones Cara Black
Liezel Huber
1–6, 4–6
Win5.September 27, 2009Hansol Korea Open, Seoul, South KoreaHard Chan Yung-jan Carly Gullickson
Nicole Kriz
6–3, 6–4
Loss3.October 18, 2009HP Open, Osaka, JapanHard Chanelle Scheepers Lisa Raymond
Chuang Chia-jung
2–6, 4–6
Loss4.August 7, 2011Mercury Insurance Open, San Diego, United StatesHard Raquel Kops-Jones Květa Peschke
Katarina Srebotnik
0–6, 2–6
Win6.September 18, 2011Bell Challenge, Quebec CityHard Raquel Kops-Jones Jamie Hampton
Anna Tatishvili
6–0, 3–6,
Loss5.January 7, 2012Brisbane International, AustraliaHard Raquel Kops-Jones Nuria Llagostera Vives
Arantxa Parra Santonja
6–7, 6–7
Loss6.February 19, 2012Qatar Ladies Open, DohaHard Raquel Kops-Jones Liezel Huber
Lisa Raymond
3–6, 1–6
Win7.July 23, 2012Mercury Insurance Open, Carlsbad, United StatesHard Raquel Kops-Jones Vania King
Nadia Petrova
6–2, 6–4
Win8.September 23, 2012Hansol Korea Open, SeoulHard Raquel Kops-Jones Akgul Amanmuradova
Vania King
2–6, 6–2,
Win9.September 29, 2012Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, JapanHard Raquel Kops-Jones Anna-Lena Grönefeld
Květa Peschke
6–1, 6–4
Win10.October 14, 2012HP Open, OsakaHard Raquel Kops-Jones Kimiko Date-Krumm
Heather Watson
6–1, 6–4
Win11.July 29, 2013Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, United StatesHard Raquel Kops-Jones Julia Görges
Darija Jurak
6–2, 7–6
Win12.August 5, 2013Southern California Open, Carlsbad, United StatesHard Raquel Kops-Jones Chan Hao-ching
Janette Husárová
6–4, 6–1
Loss7.September 22, 2013KDB Korea Open, SeoulHard Raquel Kops-Jones Chan Chin-wei
Xu Yifan
5–7, 3–6
Loss8.February 22, 2014Dubai Tennis Championships, United Arab EmiratesHard Raquel Kops-Jones Alla Kudryavtseva
Anastasia Rodionova
2–6, 7–5,
Win13.June 15, 2014Aegon Classic, BirminghamGrass Raquel Kops-Jones Ashleigh Barty
Casey Dellacqua
7–6, 6–1
Win14.August 18, 2014Cincinnati Masters, United StatesHard Raquel Kops-Jones Tímea Babos
Kristina Mladenovic
6–1, 2–0 ret.
Loss9.January 16, 2015Apia International Sydney, AustraliaHard Raquel Kops-Jones Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Sania Mirza
3–6, 3–6
Win15.February 28, 2015Qatar Total Open, DohaHard Raquel Kops-Jones Hsieh Su-wei
Sania Mirza
6–4, 6–4
Win16.June 14, 2015Aegon Nottingham Open, Great BritainGrass Raquel Kops-Jones Jocelyn Rae
Anna Smith
3–6, 6–3,
Win17.October 18, 2015Generali Ladies Linz, AustriaHard Raquel Kops-Jones Andrea Hlaváčková
Lucie Hradecká
6–3, 7–5
Win18.July 23, 2016Bank of the West Classic, StanfordHard Raquel Atawo Darija Jurak
Anastasia Rodionova
6–3, 6–4
Win19.February 18, 2017Qatar Total Open, DohaHard Katarina Srebotnik Olga Savchuk
Yaroslava Shvedova
6–3, 7–6
Loss10.April 30, 2017Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, GermanyClay Katarina Srebotnik Raquel Atawo
Jelena Ostapenko
4–6, 4–6
Win20.August 6, 2017Bank of the West Classic, StanfordHard CoCo Vandeweghe Alizé Cornet
Alicja Rosolska
6–2, 6–3
Win21.June 17, 2018Nottingham Open, Great BritainGrass Alicja Rosolska Mihaela Buzărnescu
Heather Watson
6–3, 7–6

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles