American Alycia Parks followed up her stunning win over Karolína Plíšková with another memorable victory over Greece’s Maria Sakkari to extend her stay in the Ostrava Open.
In contrast to her opening win, Parks had to show major resilience in order to seal a 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 comeback win against the fourth-seeded Greek after a mammoth 2-hour, 44-minute contest.
Signs of a long struggle were there from the very first set as they exchanged breaks in the first two games before settling in well. At 5-5, the American stuttered with double faults to hand Sakkari the first set.
She managed to shake off the disappointment and regain her composure in time to launch a fresh challenge in the second stanza. She staved off a break point at 4-4 in the second set before breaking Sakkari in a three-deuce tussle in the final game of the set to restore parity.
In the decider, Park’s power came to her rescue as Sakkari began to err at crucial moments giving the American to seal the match on the very first opportunity.
The win over Sakkari at the Ostrava Open was the first top-10 win for Alycia Parks who will now take on former Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova in her first quarterfinal.
Krejcikova reached the stage after a walkover win over No.6 seed Belinda Bencic who withdrew due to a left foot injury.
Parks is joined in the quarterfinals by her doubles partner Caty McNally, who defeated wild card Karolina Muchova 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in 2 hours and 1 minute to progress to the next round. Her prize for the achievement is a meeting with the World No.1 Iga Swiatek.
In other matches, Tereza Martincová sealed a walkover win over Anett Kontaveit while Ekaterina Alexandrova eliminated Daria Kasatkina.
