Abigail Spears would be the first to tell you clay is not her preferred surface. Of her 21 WTA doubles titles, just one occurred on clay, more than 10 years ago in Estoril. Clay plays into the hands of duos favoring baseline attacking, countering the traditionalist in Spears who is a pure serve and volleyer.

“Serving and volleying is tougher on clay. Players have more time to return. Grass is definitely the best for my style,” Spears told Baseline. “It’s more of a challenge. But I that’s what makes the game so great with all the different surfaces. You have to change your variation and your tactics. The best athletes win.”

Despite drawing defending Roland Garros champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, Spears found her footing with new partner Nadia Kichenok, as the two stunned the top seeds, 6-2, 6-4, on Thursday in Paris. Spears and Kichenok only dropped serve once in the 76-minute match.

“We knew they had so much pressure on them, having won the title last year. Thought they might be tight as it’s always tough in the first round,” Spears said. “We had to go for it and take our chances. It was so fun to have a big atmosphere out there. There were a lot of Czech and Ukrainian fans, plus my friends were there too.”

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Spears and Kichenok joined forces in Rome and are looking to secure back-to-back wins for the first time in three tournaments. The two will next take on Spaniards Sara Sorribes Tormo and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

“It will be a trickier matchup,” Spears said. “Two players who are comfortable on clay, being Spanish. It’s a totally different matchup.”

Spears has reached the semifinals of Wimbledon (three times) and the Australian Open, to go with a quarterfinal showing at the US Open. The 37-year-old is looking to get through to the third round at Roland Garros for the first time since 2004.

The American also competing in mixed doubles with Juan Sebastian Cabal, who she partnered to win the 2017 Australian Open title.

Follow Matt on Twitter: @iammattfitz

Spears and Kichenok
stun top seeds at
Roland Garros

Spears and Kichenok stun top seeds at Roland Garros