Alycia
Parks found herself in the midst of a controversy while playing doubles at the
2023 Korea Open alongside Sofia Kenin. The
22-year-old American tennis player encountered another surprising incident at
the WTA 250 tournament.
Parks was
participating in the doubles event with Sofia Kenin and faced the Thai duo of
Luksika Kumkhum and Peangtarn Plipuech in the semifinals on Friday, October 14.
Kumkhum and Plipuech won the first set by a margin of 7-5, and the second set
began in a similarly competitive manner.
The closely
contested second set reached a 5-5 tie, and Parks had a golden opportunity but
squandered it, hitting a smash directly at Plipuech, who was positioned at the
net as well. The Thai player had to sit on the court for a while to absorb the
pain.
The chair
umpire left his seat to check on Plipuech's condition, while the players also
gathered around her. Parks raised her racket in a gesture of apology. Despite
taking the hit, Kumkhum and Plipuech went on to win the match 7-5, 7-6(3).
Alycia
Parks and Sofia Kenin had defeated Prarthana Thombare and Zhibek Kulambayeva in
the first round and the top-seeded pair of Makoto Ninomiya and Eri Hozumi in
the quarterfinals. However, their journey to the final was halted in the semis.
Parks was also
competing in the singles main draw but suffered a painful defeat against Polina
Kudermetova. Despite winning the first set 6-3, the world No. 34 and 6th seed
of the tournament could only manage to win one game in the next two sets,
losing the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 to the Russian.
This week,
Parks will be participating in the Winners Open, where she is the second seed
and will face Romania's
Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round.