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Rising American star Alycia Parks, 21, has joined Serena Williams as the only two American female players with a top-10 win in 2022. On Thursday, 144th-ranked qualifier Parks stunned seventh-ranked Maria Sakkari 5-7 7-5 7-5 in the Ostrava round-of-16.
It was Parks' first top-10 victory. At this past US Open, Williams defeated Anett Kontaveit, who was at the time of the tournament the second-ranked player in the world.
Parks, who competed on the clay courts of Parma last week, admitted she didn't expect much when she came to Ostrava. "I came out here not expecting anything, just playing my game, and it got me through the match.133 - Alycia Parks (ranked #133) is the second American female player ranked outside the top-100 to win against a top-10 opponent this season, after Serena Williams versus Anett Kontaveit at the US Open.
Surprise.@WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/eiBlJtVpQ5 — OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 6, 2022
I was coming from Parma last week, and everyone said, how are you going to switch surfaces like that? But surfaces don't really affect me. Indoor hard is my strength," Parks said, per the WTA website.
How Parks stunned Sakkari
Parks lost her service game in the very first game of the match but broke back Sakkari immediately in the second game.
After blowing an early first-set break, Sakkari broke Parks again in the 11th game before serving out for the first set in the 12th game. In the ninth game of the second set, Parks faced a break point but was able to save it and avoid going down by a break in the key moments of the set.
Then Parks broke Sakkari in the 12th game, when the Greek was serving to stay in the second set. After winning the second set, Parks saved a break point in the first game of the third set. In the eighth game, Parks missed out on four break points as Sakkari managed to tie the set to four games apiece.
After blowing four break points in the eighth game, Parks broke Sakkari in the 12th game, when the Greek was serving to stay in the match. Parks plays 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova next. It remains to be seen how far can Parks go this week in Ostrava.