WTA Lyon Final Prediction

Caroline Garcia vs Alycia Parks

Head-to-head: Garcia 1-0 Parks

Garcia has not been as clinical so far as in the latter half of the 2022 season (four titles between June and November), but she keeps executing her game at a very high standard. After winning four matches on the way to the final here, she’s now 10-2 for the year. There have been some hiccups in Lyon, but she was quick to deal with them, just like she was quick to deal with some peaking opponents (especially Jasmine Paolini).

Parks finished her 2022 campaign with back-to-back WTA 125K titles in Angers and Andorra, but suffered a disappointing exit in Australian Open qualifying (70 unforced errors against Sara Bejlek in round two). Back under the roof, the American is firing again. While her first matches this week (with Julia Grabher and Petra Martic) were absolute rollercoasters, she’s been much cleaner in the latter two. She hasn’t lost indoors in 14 matches.

The two have faced each other once before with Garcia taking the win in three sets in Cincinnati qualifying 2021. Parks has made some insane progress since, but will it be enough to reverse the score? That remains to be seen, especially as this is her first final and it wouldn’t be surprising if she exhibited some nerves. She also double faults quite a bit, which could be an issue against someone who puts this much pressure on the opponent’s delivery.

However, Parks seems to match up pretty well against Garcia, mostly as the Frenchwoman will probably need to change up her returning strategy a bit. Her reactions are quick but she won’t be able to pick up her rival’s huge first serves if she’s standing inside the baseline like she usually does. The top seed has so much experience that she remains the favorite, but this could be a tough one with few breaks of serve.

Prediction: Garcia in 3