Kwon Soon-woo sits on the court after losing the first round of the Australian Open tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia on the 9th. Melbourne = AP Yonhap News
Korean men’s tennis sign Kwon Soon-woo (24, Dangjin City Hall) was eliminated in the first edition of the season’s first major tournament, the Australian Open tennis tournament (A$80 million in total prize money). It is even more painful as the result against the 267th player who is far behind him, who is ranked 97th in the world.
Kwon Soon-woo lost 0-3 (4-6 1-6 1-6) to Seonashi Kokinakis (25, Australia), who cheered up by home fans in the first round of the men’s singles final on the second day of the tournament held in Melbourne, Australia on the 9th. As a result of this day, Kwon Soon-woo accepted the result of being eliminated for the third round following 2018 and 2020.
Kwon Soon-woo showed an uneasy start by allowing the break without winning a point in his first serve game in the first set. Afterwards, they fought close to each other by defending the sub game, and Kwon Soon-woo took the first and last breakpoint in the opponent’s sub game, which was behind by 4-5, and launched a counterattack. However, he couldn’t take advantage of this opportunity and eventually gave him the first set, and the flow of the game was completely directed towards Kokinakis.
In the second set, Kwon Soon-woo lost his first sub-game, and afterwards, in Game Score 1-2, he gave 4 games in a row, and his defeat became darker. Kwon Soon-woo, who lost 9 games down from the 2nd set, was finally defeated in 1 hour and 33 minutes. Kokinakis celebrated their advance to the second round amid enthusiastic cheers from Australian home fans.
The Kokinakis, 193cm tall and 13cm taller than Kwon Soon-woo (180cm), overwhelmed Kwon Soon-woo (19-2) in the sub ace that day, and did not miss the lead throughout the game. Kwon Soon-woo got a breakpoint opportunity only once in the 1st set on this day, but he couldn’t bring an opponent’s subgame once, and the difference in total points was 47-78.
Kwon Soon-woo will receive A$100,000 in prize money for the first round of singles elimination. This is equivalent to about 86 million won in Korean money. Kwon Soon-woo, who was the most successful in last year’s US Open in the second round of the major tournament, aimed for his second victory in his major finals at the French Open in May.
Kim Hyung-jun reporter [email protected]
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