Arabnews24.ca:Monday 6 February 2023 04:27 AM: LYON, France — Unseeded American Alycia Parks secured a stunning 7-6 (7), 7-5 upset win over WTA Finals champion Caroline Garcia of France in the Open Metropole de Lyon final to clinch her first career title.
“I think France has a special part in my heart right now,” Parks said. “I´ll be back next year.”
The 22-year-old Parks, who is ranked 79th, had 15 aces and saved all four break points against the top-seeded Garcia.
Parks secured the only break of a tight contest to win the match.
The fifth-ranked Garcia, a US Open semifinalist last year, was seeking a 12th career title.
“Congrats on a great tournament,” Garcia told Parks in English according to AP. “If you keep playing like this for sure you’re going to keep going up (the rankings).”
Parks has a career-best ranking of 75th.
The 29-year-old Garcia, who grew up in Lyon, took time to thank her home crowd – this time in French.
“It means a lot to play here, thanks for being here,” Garcia said. “You supported me from the first point to the last. Thanks for all your encouragement.”
Elsewhere, Borna Coric beat 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem 7-6 (3), 6-2 to send Croatia into the group stage of the Davis Cup.
Coric helped the Croatians win their second Davis Cup title in 2018, but he was sidelined when they lost in the 2021 final while missing a year of action with a right shoulder injury.
He returned to the tour last March, winning a Masters 1000 title in August in Cincinnati, Ohio, and rejoined the Croatians when they reached the Davis Cup semifinals last year.
His victory over Thiem, who has also dealt with injuries in recent years, gave Croatia a 3-1 victory in Rijeka.
The Austrians had taken the tie against the No. 1 team in the Davis Cup rankings to a fourth match when Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler beat Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic 6-3, 7-6 (11) in the doubles match.
Chile, Finland, the Netherlands, South Korea and the Czech Republic also completed victories to secure their places in the next round, which will be played in September.
On Saturday, the US completed a sweep of Uzbekistan, while Serbia, France, Britain, Switzerland and Sweden also finished off victories.
Those 12 countries will play in the group stage, along with reigning champion Canada, 2022 runner-up Australia and wild-card recipients Italy and Spain.
Eight teams will then advance to the closing matches of the Davis Cup Finals scheduled for Nov. 21-26 in Malaga, Spain.
