Kwon Soon-woo reaches final at Biella Indoor 2

Kwon Soon-woo [TENNIS AUSTRALIA]

Korean tennis player Kwon Soon-woo earned a spot in the final at the ATP Challenger Biella Indoor 2 in Biella, Italy on Saturday.

World No. 97 Kwon beat Evgeny Donskoy of Russia in the semifinal at the Biella Indoor 2. Kwon beat the world No. 123 in three sets: 6-3, 7-6, 6-1.

Kwon, who participated in the tournament after failing to make it past the first round at the Australian Open, will now face world No. 122 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in the final today, starting at 11:30 p.m. in Korea.

The ATP Challenger Biella Indoor 2 is a minor tournament that does not pull in big name players, so Kwon entered as the third highest seed, after world No. 94 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain and world No. 88 Sebastien Korda of the United States. With both Korda and Fokina knocked out, Kwon enters the final as the clear favorite.

Kwon has smashed through the tournament, losing just one set so far — to Donskoy in the semifinal.

Kwon competed in the first round of the Australian Open last week, but was knocked out of the tournament immediately by Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis, who beat Kwon in straight sets: 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.

Kwon was having the best year of his career last year before the coronavirus pandemic interrupted the tennis season. He advanced to the second round at the U.S. Open, his best grand slam performance to date. As a result, Kwon also briefly shot up to No. 69 in the ATP World Ranking.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]