LONDON – Former California star Raquel (Kops-Jones) Atawo and partner Abigail Spears reached the doubles semifinals at Wimbledon for the second straight year, losing to eventual runners-up Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova on July 8 at the All England Club. The American pair fell, 6-4, 6-2, to Babos – a Hungarian and the younger sister of Cal alumna Suzi Babos – and Shvedova, a Russian.
 
Atawo and Spears had captured four victories leading up to the Wimbledon semis. That included a quarterfinal win over the duo of Anna-Lena Groenefeld, a German, and Kveta Peschke, from the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-2, on July 6.
 
In mixed doubles at the All England Club, Atawo paired with South African Raven Klaasen to reach the second round, in which they lost to Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) and Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spain), 6-4, 6-4, on July 3.
 
In a Wimbledon tune-up in England, Atawo and Spears advanced to the quarterfinals of the Aegon Eastbourne International tournament in Eastbourne, Sussex. They fell at that stage to the Chinese Taipei team of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8.
 
On May 27 in Paris, Atawo and Spears lost in the doubles round of 32 at the French Open. Also that day, Atawo and Klaasen fell in the opening round of 32 in mixed doubles at Roland-Garros.