Deadspin | Alycia Parks kicks off Qatar Open by upsetting Diana Shnaider – Imperial Wire

A latest apply session with the nice Serena Williams might have paid off for Alycia Parks, who took down Russian fifteenth seed Diana Shnaider 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) to start the Qatar TotalEnergies Open on Sunday in Doha.

Parks, an American ranked eighty fifth on the planet, lately instructed the web site Tennis Majors that she considers Williams a “mentor” and mentioned the 44-year-old tennis icon is in nice form and “would kill it on tour” if she weren’t retired.

However Sunday was about Parks displaying her personal stuff. She shook off her first-set loss and received on her first match level within the tightly contested third-set tiebreaker. Parks completed with an 11-0 edge in aces.

Parks needed to win within the qualifying spherical to make the 56-woman principal draw. She really knocked Shnaider out within the first spherical at Doha final 12 months earlier than repeating the feat Sunday.

“I am really fairly match-ready,” Parks, 25, instructed Tennis Majors earlier than the principle draw. “I am simply driving the wave of getting matches underneath my belt from Ostrava (final week’s event). My season has began good. I feel I wanted that psychological break for offseason. So now I am really able to play.”

The very best seed in motion on the primary day of the event was Canadian tenth seed Victoria Mboko, who beat Czech opponent Marie Bouzkova 7-5, 6-2. Mboko overcame six double faults with out an ace, saving 4 of seven break factors whereas changing 6 of 11 alternatives to interrupt Bouzkova’s serve.

Poland’s Magdalena Frech upset No. 13 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7). Samsonova had three match factors within the third set, two of them through the tiebreaker, however Frech saved all of them earlier than pushing forward and successful on her first match level.

Czech 14th seed Karolina Muchova beat Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 6-2, 6-3. No. 16 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium sailed 6-2, 6-1 previous Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 68 minutes.

Russian 41-year-old Vera Zvonareva pushed previous American Peyton Stearns 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Different winners on Day 1 included France’s Varvara Gracheva, Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Poland’s Magda Linette, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, Australian Daria Kasatkina and American Ann Li.

–Area Stage Media