San Jose's Kops-Jones wins WTA doubles title

Raquel Kops-Jones, shown in 2012, and Abigail Spears
won a Wimbledon warmup tournament in Birmingham,
England. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Raquel Kops-Jones of San Jose and Abigail Spears of San Diego won their first title of the year, beating defending champions Ashley Barty and Casey Dellacqua of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-1 on Sunday in the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, England.
   Kops-Jones and Spears, the third seeds who had ousted No. 1 Cara Black and Sania Mirza in the semifinals, saved three set points while trailing 6-5 on Kops-Jones' serve in the Wimbledon warmup tournament.
   "We never give up," Spears said on wtatennis.com. "We have played together for a long time. We'll have some bad matches, maybe some bad days, but we're always wanting to get better.
   "Our friendship as well is a huge thing. We're pretty much best friends. I think that really helps us to be able to talk through things." 
   Spears, 32, won her 13th WTA doubles title and Kops-Jones, a 31-year-old former NCAA doubles champion from Cal, her 11th. They captured the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last July and reached the Australian Open semifinals in January for their best Grand Slam result.
   Barty and Dellacqua, seeded second in Birmingham, were 12-1 on grass entering the final. They had beaten Kops-Jones and Spears 6-4, 6-1 in the round of 16 at Wimbledon last year.
   Dellacqua, 29, has reached the women's doubles final in all four Grand Slam tournaments. She's still looking for her first major title in that event but won the 2011 French Open mixed doubles crown with former Stanford star Scott Lipsky.
   Barty, 18, has advanced to the women's doubles final in every Grand Slam tournament except the French Open.