Parks upsets Garcia in Lyon to win first WTA singles title

Alycia Parks won her first WTA singles title at the Open 6ème Sens Métropole de Lyon on Sunday, wrapping up her breakthrough week on the Hologic WTA Tour with her first Top 5 victory.

The 22-year-old American upset No.1 seed and local hope Caroline Garcia, 7-6(7), 7-5, collecting the champion’s trophy after 2 hours and 7 minutes of power tennis by both.

Read more: Shot of the year contender? Parks pulls off tweener-lob in Lyon

"It feels amazing to hold my first WTA tour-level championship trophy," Parks said after her victory. "Words can’t explain. Just last year, I was in an [ITF Challenger] $60,000 final, and now I have won a WTA 250."

Having already made her first tour-level semifinal and final this week, Parks went all the way to the title by stunning World No.5 Garcia and denying the Frenchwoman her 12th career WTA singles title.

By the numbers: Parks again reached double digits in aces, firing 15 during the final. That total was more than half of her 28 winners in the match, while Garcia finished with 13 winners, including four aces.

Read more: Guided by faith, Alycia Parks readies for a breakout 2023 season

Both players were superb on serve, with Parks erasing all four of the break points she faced and winning 85 percent of her first-service points. Parks also fended off a set point with an unreturnable serve at 7-6 in the first-set tiebreak.

Garcia also neared an 80 percent success rate behind her first serve, and she almost got out of the match without being broken as well. But Parks converted her third and final break point of the day -- on championship point, where Garcia double-faulted.

"I made sure I focused on my service games today to get through the match, because I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy match," Parks said. "So just staying within myself, and fighting for every point, and that got me through the match."

Victory in the final marks the second Top 10 win for Parks, who defeated No.7 Maria Sakkari last year in Ostrava. But this was the American’s first victory over a player currently ranked inside the Top 5, having previously lost to then-No.4 Ons Jabeur in Berlin last year.

Parks continues her surge up the WTA singles rankings, bolstered by winning two WTA 125 titles at the end of last season. The American is currently ranked World No.79 this week, 120 spots higher than she was 12 months ago, and she is projected to rise well past her career-high ranking of No.75 on Monday.

"The key to a successful week for me was keeping the same routine," Parks said. "I wake up around the same time every morning, and eat the same breakfast, same dinner. Basically just doing the same routine, try to make it a habit if it’s working."

Doubles result: Earlier on Sunday, in the doubles final between two unseeded teams, Cristina Bucsa and Bibiane Schoofs defeated Olga Danilovic and Alexandra Panova 7-6(5), 6-3 in 1 hour and 36 minutes to capture the Lyon doubles title.

Bucsa and Schoofs saw an early 3-0, double-break lead dissipate in the first set, but they righted themselves in the tiebreak to earn the one-set lead before holding firm in the second.

Schoofs picks up her second WTA doubles title, with her first coming alongside Sara Errani just over five years ago at 2018 Auckland. This is Bucsa’s first WTA doubles title in just her second tour-level doubles final.