OSTRAVA, Czech Republic — Two days after scoring the first Top 20 win of her career, Alycia Parks exceeded it. The American qualifier notched her maiden Top 10 victory, upsetting No.4 seed Maria Sakkari 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 at the Agel Open to reach a Hologic WTA Tour quarter-final for the first time.
No.144-ranked Parks had knocked out former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova in straight sets in her opener.
The same formidable power was also on display against Sakkari: Parks tallied 59 winners, including 15 aces, while keeping her unforced error tally down to 26. By contrast, Sakkari managed only nine winners throughout.
However, the 21-year-old Parks — who is in Ostrava alone, with her team back at home in Florida — also demonstrated superb resilience to come from behind and weather several nailbiting moments en route to a 2-hour, 44-minute victory.
“I came out here not expecting anything, just playing my game, and it got me through the match,” said Parks, who also expressed an affinity with the Ostrava courts.
“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.”
As both players settled into the match, they exchanged breaks in the first two games. Thereafter, the serve would be at a premium: there would only be three further service breaks, each coming at the tail end of a set.
At 5-5 in the first set, a pair of Parks double faults opened the door for Sakkari, who came up with some superb passing shots en route to the crucial break.
But Parks was able to shake off the disappointment of losing such a tight opening act, keeping the match competitive with some emphatic holds.
As the match went on, Parks’ prowess at net became crucial. A brilliant stab volley staved off a break point at 4-4 in the second set, and she went on to break Sakkari after a three-deuce tussle in the final game of the set.
Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic eased past Botic Van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-1 in his first career meeting with the 27-year-old Dutchman to reach the quarter-finals of the Astana Open.
Van de Zandschulp earned one break point in each set but couldn’t seriously threaten Djokovic.
“(In the) second set I think I started to read his serve better and just started swinging through the court more,” Djokovic said.
“Botic is a quality tennis player. When he has time, he can hurt you, so I tried to take away that time from him and I´m very pleased with the way I played, particularly in the second.”
Djokovic will next face Karen Khachanov, who rallied to beat Marin Cilic 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. If the 21-time Grand Slam champion gets past that one, he could come up against fellow former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev.
The second-seeded Russian beat Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland 6-3, 6-2 to move one match away from a potential rematch of last year’s US Open final, when Medvedev beat Djokovic to deny his attempt at a calendar-year Grand Slam.
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