Tennis
Alycia Parks Saves Three Set Points to Beat Wang Xinyu in Tokyo
The American qualifier won 6–1, 7–6(7) and will face lucky loser Kimberly Birrell in the second round.
Alycia Parks saved three set points before defeating Wang Xinyu 6–1, 7–6(7) in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Monday, October 26. The American qualifier completed the match in 93 minutes.
One of the set points came with Parks trailing 5–4 in the second set, and the other two arrived in the tiebreak, according to the WTA’s official match description. Parks won the breaker 9–7 to avoid a deciding set and improved to 2–0 against Wang.
Her second-round opponent is Kimberly Birrell, who entered as a lucky loser when second seed Maja Chwalinska withdrew with a left thigh injury. Birrell takes Chwalinska’s place in the draw, including a first-round bye.
Parks had already defeated Heather Watson and Ena Shibahara in qualifying. The official results list her win over Shibahara as a three-set match lasting two hours and 27 minutes.
Tokyo’s WTA 500 hard-court event runs through November 1. The Japanese swing continues after Katerina Siniakova’s Osaka title on Sunday.
