Kwon knocked out of Australian Open after grueling five-set match

Kwon Soon-woo reacts after scoring a point against Canada's Denis Shapovalov during their men's singles match on day three of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Kwon Soon-woo dropped his second round match of the Australian Open against world No. 14 Denis Shapovalov of Canada after a hard-fought four hours and 25 minutes.

It was a grueling match for both players, as all first four sets went to a seventh game while the two deuced 22 times throughout the match.

Kwon conceded the first set 7-5 but took the next two sets 7-6, 7-6. Just as it seemed that the tide had turned in Kwon’s favor, the Canadian broke Kwon’s last serve in the fourth set to level the score at two sets each, pushing the match to a fifth set.

In the last set, Shapovalov was able to break Kwon’s first and last serve game while Kwon failed to break any of his opponent’s serves, with the set finishing six games to two.

While the loss robs Kwon of the chance to reach the third round for the first time, this still marks his best result at the Australian Open. Kwon defeated Holger Rune of Denmark in the first round on Monday to reach the second round for the first time in his career. In 2018, 2020 and 2021, Kwon qualified for the Australian Open but was knocked out in the first round.

Despite the loss, the fact that the match went to a seventh game in four sets, lasted longer than four hours and saw 22 deuces proves that No. 54 Kwon put up a formidable fight against the world No. 14.

“The Australian Open was sort of a jinx for me,” Kwon said on Monday after winning the first round of the Australian Open. “But I am glad to have overcome that.”

In the first round against Rune, it was Kwon’s serve that gave him the upper-hand. This time, Shapovalov was the one to have the upper-hand as Kwon could only find three aces to Shapovalov’s 29.

Both Koreans competing in the Australian Open single's competition have now been knocked out, as Jang Su-jeong lost her first-ever Grand Slam women's singles match earlier in the day.

Kwon will play the men's doubles on Thursday, pairing up with Marcos Giron of the United States.

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