Kwon Soon-woo to face Djokovic at Serbia Open

Kwon Soon-woo [SPORT SINGAPORE]

Korean tennis player Kwon Soon-woo will face world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the Round of 16 at the Serbia Open on Wednesday.

Kwon defeated Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain in straight sets on Tuesday to earn a spot in the Round of 16.

Kwon, currently ranked at No. 85, will face Djokovic in an arena that bares his name, the Novak Tennis Center in Belgrade, Serbia at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, or at 9:30 p.m. in Korea.

This is the first time Kwon has faced Djokovic. He has previously played Rafael Nadal, currently the world No. 3, but lost 2-0 at the Mexico Open in February 2020.

Djokovic is considered one of the greatest men's tennis players of all time.

In February, he won his ninth Grand Slam at the Australian Open, winning a total of 18 Grand Slam men’s titles — only two wins behind No. 7 Roger Federer and Nadal.

Djokovic has also held the world No. 1 spot for the longest time in tennis history, topping the world rankings for 317 weeks, surpassing Federer's previous record of 310 weeks.

This will be the fourth time a Korean player has faced the top seeded player in the world.

Lee Hyung-taik lost to Federer in 2007. In 2017, Chung managed to take Nadal to tie break, but lost.

But Djokovic isn't unbeatable. In 2018, Chung defeated the Serbian at the Australian Open in the biggest upset of the tournament, but he then was forced to withdraw in the middle of a game against Federer due to severe blisters.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]