Julia Abe (born 21 May 1976) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player from Germany.

Biography

A right-handed player from

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

, Abe was coached during her career by her father Wolfgang. Abe turned professional at the age of 19 and won two ITF singles titles in her first year on the ITF circuit in 1996. Her best performances on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

were quarterfinals appearances at the 1998 Intersport Grand Prix in Hamburg and the 1999 Nokia Cup in Prostějov, both as a qualifier. Ranked a career best 111 in the world at the beginning of 2000, she received direct entry into the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

main draw, where she lost in the first round to

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Aránzazu Isabel María "Arantxa" Sánchez Vicario (; born 18 December 1971) is a Spanish former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. She won 14 Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles: four in singles, ...

. At the

2000 French Open The 2000 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 29 May until 11 June. It was the 104th staging of the French Open, and the second Gra ...

she had to compete in qualifying and made her way through to the main draw. She defeated

Marion Maruska Marion Maruska (born 15 December 1972) is an Austrian former tennis player. She turned professional in 1992 and reached her career-high singles ranking on October 6, 1997, when she became the No. 50 of the world. 1997 was Maruska's best year on ...

in the first round, then challenged top seed

Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...

in the second round, before going down 4–6, 5–7, having served for the second set. This was her final appearance on tour.

ITF finals

Singles (3–3)

Doubles (4–1)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abe, Julia 1976 births Living people German female tennis players Sportspeople from Bielefeld Tennis people from North Rhine-Westphalia