Kwon Soon-woo beats Seppi to reach third round at French Open

Korea's Kwon Soon-woo returns the ball to Italy's Andreas Seppi during their men's singles second round tennis match on Day 5 of The Roland Garros 2021 French Open in Paris on Thursday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Korean tennis player Kwon Soon-woo has advanced to the third round at the French Open, beating world No. 98 Andreas Seppi of Italy in straight sets on Thursday.

World No. 91 Kwon beat Seppi 3-0 in the second round of the French Open on Court 13 at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France. Kwon beat the world No. 98 in straight sets: 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.

To reach the second round, Kwon beat world No. 100 Kevin Anderson in four sets on Tuesday. Anderson, the former world No. 5, has reached a Grand Slam final twice, but fell to Kwon in Paris: 7-5, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6.

Kwon now advances to the third round, where he will face a serious challenge from world No. 9 Matteo Berrettini of Italy.

Kwon has never reached the third round at a Grand Slam before, dropping out of the U.S. Open in the second round last year. Only two Koreans, Chung Hyeon and Lee Hyung-taik, have reached the third round in Paris, and neither made it any further.

Berrettini has also never made it past the third round at the notoriously gruelling French Open.

The two are expected to face off on Saturday.

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