Parks reaches first WTA singles final in Lyon after another dominant display
WTA
On Sunday, Alycia Parks will play her first WTA final, as she will take on the first-seeded Caroline Garcia at the 2023 Lyon Open.
The 22-year-old American had a sensational end to the 2022 season, winning one ITF event after another. In 2023, she decided to fully commit to tennis and started regularly playing WTA events.
Only five weeks after making that decision, she was already knocking on the doors of the Top 50. The young American defeated Julia Grabher and Petra Martic in the first two rounds of the WTA 250 event in Lyon before knocking out Danka Kovinic in two sets in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
In the semi-finals, she took on Maryna Zanevska, who represents Belgium but was born in Ukraine. Parks flew into the match with an early break of serve, and after adding another, she was up 5-1 and 40-0 on her serve with three set points.
But her opponent started a comeback, and the American had to face two break points also when leading 5-3 and serving for the set, just barely avoiding making things more complicated for herself.
Eventually, she used her seventh set point and won the first set 6-3. In the second set, she couldn't finish it off again, and it nearly cost her a set this time.
Parks had two match points on her serve when leading 5-4, seemingly once again controlling the proceedings in the second set. But then she lost 11 of the next 13 points and faced two set points when serving 5-6 down.
She stayed calm and forced a tie-break, which she won 7-4 to win the match 6-3, 7-6(4), and book her first WTA singles final. She will face a difficult obstacle on her way to the first WTA title as the first-seeded Caroline Garcia will be her final opponent.
