Alycia Parks vs Belinda Bencic: Angers Final Analysis (WTA 125)
Parks repeated as Angers champion by blasting winner after winner
Third-seed Alycia Parks (WTA #106) overpowered Belinda Bencic (WTA #907) in the Angers final to capture her third WTA 125 trophy of the season, after summer wins in Gaiba and Warsaw.
Already a champion at Angers in 2022, the 23-year-old American raised her WTA 125 title haul to 5, second-most in the all-time list behind Mayar Sherif’s record of 7.
Parks certainly enjoys indoor events as 3 of her 125 titles as well as her sole WTA 250 title in 2023 Lyon have come on indoor hardcourts.
For Bencic, Angers was her third tournament back following a 1-year maternity leave. The Tokyo Olympic gold medalist has been using lower-level tournaments to gain match fitness. Her record on the season is now up to 8-2 as she reached her first final since April 2023 (WTA 500 Charleston).
Bencic may be showing steady progress but she spent most of the Angers final on the back foot.
Parks was just too powerful, blasting 14 aces and 42 forehand winners on her way to the title.
Out of 108 points won, she struck a winner 63 times and added another 28 shots that forced errors from Bencic. Outstanding numbers that demonstrate how much Parks dictated play throughout the encounter.
1. Parks ruled from the middle of the baseline with her forehand
It is evident from the data in the image presented below that Parks hit a large portion of her winning forehand groundstrokes (orange box on the left) and most of her forehand unforced errors (yellow box on the right) from a central area of the baseline.
It was from there that Parks controlled proceedings and ended up deciding the outcome of most points.
Bencic’s major flaws on the day were her inability to take the ball away from the forehand of Parks or to force her towards the sidelines. A little more depth on the Swiss’ shots would have also helped.
This trio of points taken when Bencic served for the opening set at 5-4 is a great example of Parks hitting middle of the baseline forehands to command/win rallies.
Parks finally levelled the opener at 5-5 with a forcing forehand on break point, after starting the game with 2 forehand winners (video above). She had lost serve from 40/0 up to start the match, then squandered 6 break points in the 6th game to get back on serve.
A couple of games later, it was with 2 more timely forehand winners (1 passing shot and a return winner on set point) to go along with 3 aces that Parks took the first set tie-break.
In the third set, Parks’ forehand was just unstoppable, accounting for 14 of her 19 winners.
Remarkably, the 2022 Angers champion hit a winner in 19 of 28 points won (and 39 points played) in the decider! And to clinch the title in style, she fired 3 forehand return winners in the last 3 points.
Parks’ forehand return prowess was certainly one of the key factors. She ended the final with 12 winning forehand returns (from 8 return winners plus 4 returns that forced errors on the next shot), against 11 errors.
Overall, Parks’ forehand performance was 18 points better than Bencic’s (+11 to -7). The American finished with 42 forehand winners and 31 errors while Bencic could only counter with 10 forehand winners and 17 errors.
Forehand Performances
Parks: 42 winners / 31 errors = +11
Bencic: 10 winners / 17 errors = -7
Backhand Performances
Parks: 7 winners / 38 errors = -31
Bencic: 1 winner / 20 errors = -19
2. First-strike tennis
Points decided within the first 4 shots made up almost 80% of the match (158 of 199 points played).
Significantly, the winner of each set was the player holding the edge in first-strike points.
First-strike points won by set
Set 1: Parks 44 / Bencic 35 = Parks +9
Set 2: Parks 19 / Bencic 27 = Bencic +8
Set 3: Parks 22 / Bencic 11 = Parks +11
Set 1
Parks came away with the first set after blasting 9 aces and taking advantage of Bencic’s 2nd serve struggles. The Swiss missed her first 4 2nd serves and accumulated 6 double faults in 11 2nd serve points, including 1 in the tie-break.
Set 2
Bencic made a significant improvement in her serving performance. Avoiding double faults completely, she finished the set with 13 unreturned serves against 8 by Parks. That made all the difference in the set as rallies played ended in a 21-21 tie.
Set 3
In an all-around dominant set, Parks blasted 13 winners within the first 4 shots (2 aces, 6 return and 5 “+1” winners), lost just 2 points on serve, won all 10 points against Bencic’s 2nd serve and built a 16-6 edge in rallies played.
To end this analysis, here are a couple of final observations.
Almost all of Parks’ 12-point advantage in short rallies (85 to 73) was due to the gap in aces. Parks slammed 14 aces while Bencic only had 3, for an 11-point difference (both players finished with 8 double faults).
In addition to outserving Bencic, Parks also outrallied her opponent. The 23-year-old ended the match with 7 more rallies won and 5 more baseline duels won.
All rallies won: Parks 59 / Bencic 52
Baseline duels won: Parks 48 / Bencic 43
Alycia Parks (WTA #106, seed 3) vs Belinda Bencic (WTA #907, Wild Card)
2024 Angers Final - Match Data
Set by Set Stats
Points Won by Rally Length
Rally Length
Strokes Breakdown
Direction of winning shots and unforced errors (only groundstrokes)
Serve and Return
1st Serves
2nd Serves
Return & rallying performance
Points won breakdown
This final section gives a last, broader look at the match by presenting how each player won points. Points are listed according to their frequency (highest to lowest) and are named in relation to the last touch on the ball. For simplicity, groundstrokes hit from the 5th shot onwards are grouped together.
Breakdown by side (FHs or BHs)
Breakdown by error type (UFEs or FEs)
To find out more about the stats published here, please visit the following post.
While we follow the same criteria used on all major tennis events, our stats are collected through our own video analysis and are not official WTA or ITF stats.
Thanks for reading!
— Tennis Inside Numbers