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Serve's up: Alycia Parks beats Caroline Garcia to win first WTA singles title in Lyon

The American's rocket rise up the WTA rankings has been one of the stories of the last year, and she now has a tour-level trophy to show for it.

ByTENNIS.com

Published Feb 05, 2023

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WATCH: Alycia Parks earned her second career Top 10 victory by beating Caroline Garcia to win the title in Lyon.

Alycia Parks won her first career WTA singles title at the Open 6ème Sens Métropole de Lyon on Sunday with a 7-6(7), 7-5 win over top seed Caroline Garcia, denying the Frenchwoman a memorable victory at her hometown tournament.

The 22-year-old American has now won 15 straight matches indoors after winning back-to-back WTA 125 events in Andorra and Angers, France last December, and her win against Garcia was her first career victory over a Top 5 player. Parks previously beat then-No. 7 Maria Sakkari in Ostrava last October en route to the quarterfinals, which was her best result at a tour-level event at WTA 250 level or higher prior to this week in Lyon.

To take the trophy home, Parks beat three seeded players in five matches; in addition to Garcia, she beat No. 4 seed Petra Martic in the second round, and No. 7 seed Danka Kovinic in the quarterfinals.

"This title means a lot to me," Parks said in her on-court winner's speech. "I think France has a special part of my heart right now."

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Sunday's final was a showcase in first-strike tennis by both players, with Parks and Garcia matching each other both on serve and off the ground. By the slimmest of margins in 2 hours and 7 minutes, Parks came out the victor; she hit 15 aces, more than half of the 28 winners she totaled for the match, and saved all four break points she faced. Three, crucially, came on serve at 5-5 in the second set.

Garcia nearly matched Parks in service games won; she saved the first two break points she faced, including one in the eighth game of the second set which would've afforded Parks the opportunity to serve for the title, but she double-faulted on the third: championship point.

Both women also had a set point in the first-set tiebreak, but Parks won three straight points from 7-6 behind, after seeing her own set point slip by at 6-5, to take a one-set lead.

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Parks entered Lyon ranked No. 79 in the WTA rankings, having been ranked just inside the Top 200 at this time last year. She'll move to the cusp of the Top 50 with this result, and will look to keep her unbeaten run indoors going next week at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz.