Alicia Parks won her maiden WTA singles title, defeating No. 1 seed Caroline Garcia 7-6 (7), 7-5 at the Open 6eme Sans Metropole on Sunday in Lyon, France.
It was the first win over a Top 5 player for Parks, the 22-year-old Georgia native, who displayed power with 15 aces. She won 85 percent of her first serves and saved all four break points she faced.
Garcia is the world No. 5 and was playing in her home country, looking for her 12th career title. She converted 80 percent of her first serves and saved two break points until championship point, when she double-faulted on the last break point of the match.
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Thailand Open:
China’s Lin Zhu was another first-time WTA Tour winner, defeating Lesia Tsurenko 6–4, 6–4 in Hua Hin.
The 29-year-old Zhu took an hour and 45 minutes to beat the Ukrainian. Match continued her strong start to the 2023 season; She reached the quarterfinals in Auckland and the fourth round of the Australian Open. She will move into the top 50 of the rankings this week.
Neither player was on top of their service game. Zhu earned points on 52 percent of her first serves, with Surenko converting only 38 percent. And in a match that featured 23 break point opportunities, Zhu converted eight of nine attempts but saved only eight of 14 break points on his serve.
It was the first final for Surenko, previously ranked No. 23 in the world, since 2019. She has dealt with injuries in recent years.
The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification. Only the headline has been changed.
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