Unseeded American Parks seals maiden WTA title in Lyon: “I think France has a special part in my heart right now”

Alycia Parks beat the local Caroline Garcia and achieved her best position so far in WTA's ranking

22-year-old Parks had the best week of her career and is the new champion at the Open Métropole de Lyon after beating world No. 5 Garcia 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the final. This is the first tournament of her career and she will be ranked 51st this Monday. Garcia was unable to take advantage in any of the four break points she had in the match, and as in the entire championship the American showed an impressive serve and hit 15 aces.

“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,”

After the match, Parks spoke about his special week in France: "I think France has a special part in my heart right now," and added that "I´ll be back next Year.”

She also had words for the WTA finals champion: "Congratulations on a great tournament."

"If you keep playing like this for sure you're going to keep going up."