Wednesday's first round of the 2023 WTA Merida Open will see fifth seed Alycia Parks of the United States taking on Mexico's Fernanda Contreras Gomez.
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Wednesday will mark the start of the season’s first tour-level match for world no. 170 Fernanda Contreras Gomez. The Mexican player has competed in five lower-level competitions this year, including the Australian Open qualifying rounds, but only two victories, both of which came in the WTA 125 in Cali, Colombia. In the first two rounds of the clay court competition, Contreras Gomez defeated Marine Partaud and Xiaodi You before losing to eventual champion Nadia Podorosko in the semifinal. She failed to win any of her matches in the remaining four tournaments, which means she is 0-3 on hard courts this year. The 25-year-old has competed in four finals and won two ITF titles, but she failed to make a single final in 2017. Will she be able to win over Merida’s home crowd?
Alycia Parks may have lost in the opening round of her last competition in Linz, but now that she has won her first WTA championship in Lyon two weeks ago, she will be feeling confident as she travels to Merida. The American, 22, defeated world No. 5 Caroline Garcia in straight sets to win her maiden tour-level championship and get into the top 10 for the second time. She defeated Maria Sakkari in Ostrava the previous year to get her maiden top-10 victory. Prior to losing to Barbora Krejcikova in the tournament’s quarterfinals, she had also defeated Karolina Pliskova in the first round. Throughout the past few months, Parks’ development as a player has been phenomenal. In December, she won back-to-back WTA Challenger titles after her impressive performance in Ostrava. Parks overcame Rebecca Peterson to win the WTA 125 Andorra championship before defeating Anna-Lena Friedsam in the WTA 125 final in Angers, where she had never before advanced to the final of a competition. She finished 2022 with 10 victories in a row thanks to the two victories.
| Alycia Parks vs Fernanda Contreras Gomez | Match details |
|---|---|
| Date | February 22, 2023 |
| Surface | Hard |
| Tournament | Merida Open |
| Stage | First round |
| Time (India) | 08:00 am |
| Opponent | Score |
|---|---|
| Anhelina Kalinina | 2-6, 5-7 (L) |
| Carolina Garcia | 7-6, 7-5 (W) |
| Maryna Zanevska | 6-3, 7-6 (W) |
| Danka Kovinic | 7-5, 6-2 (W) |
| Petra Martic | 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 (W) |
| Opponent | Score |
|---|---|
| Carol Zhao | 6-7, 6-4, 5-7 (L) |
| Kimberly Birrell | 2-6, 2-6 (L) |
| Nadia Podoroska | 3-6, 3-6 (L) |
| Xiaodi You | 6-2, 6-0 (W) |
| Marine Patuad | 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 (W) |
Leading 2-0 is Fernanda Contreras Gomez. When she defeated Alycia Parks in two US ITF tournaments in 2021—Sumter and Charleston—in straight sets, she was rated 100 places lower than Parks. The Mexico will continue to be the underdog due to a sluggish start in 2023, losing four out of five games.
Alycia Parks and Fernanda Contreras Gomez will take on each other in the first round of the 2023 ATP Merida Open on February 22.
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