Kwon Soon-woo beats Chung Yun-seong to advance at Korea Open

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Kwon Soon-woo beats Chung Yun-seong to advance at Korea Open

Kwon Soon-woo competes against Chung Yun-seong during the first round of the Eugene Korea Open on Tuesday at Olympic Park Tennis Center in southern Seoul. [YONHAP]

Kwon Soon-woo competes against Chung Yun-seong during the first round of the Eugene Korea Open on Tuesday at Olympic Park Tennis Center in southern Seoul. [YONHAP]

 
Kwon Soon-woo beat qualifier Chung Yun-seong in a close round of 32 match at the Eugene Korea Open in Seoul on Tuesday, fighting through three sets with two tiebreakers to take the win.
 
It was always likely to be a competitive match between the two Koreans who had grown up training and playing against each other.
 
Fittingly, the first set went to 6-6 after neither was able to break the other’s serve. Kwon started out with two aces, reaching 184 kilometers per hour, quickly winning his first serve in less than two minutes.
 
The match started to heat up in the fourth game with the two players deucing three times before Chung eventually won his second serve.
 
Chung’s serves started to get stronger and faster in the 12th game, shutting out Kwon to reach the tiebreaker.
 
However, it was Kwon who won the last two points to win the first set.
 
In the second set, the two continued to exchange serves until the seventh game when Kwon broke Chung’s fourth serve. Kwon came to close to winning with a 5-4 lead, when Chung came back to break Kwon's serve for the first time in the match to tie things up.
 
Having broken each other’s serve once, the second set once again reached a tiebreak.
 
Despite Kwon winning the first two points, Chung went on to win 7-3 to take the second set.
 
Kwon returned with a vengeance in the third set, attacking Chung's serves to eventually take the match 6-2.
 
Despite exchanging serves throughout the match, Kwon had won 20 points more than Chung, implying that he won his serves a lot easier than Chung did.
 
The head-to-head record between Kwon and Chung is now tied at two to two.
 
“I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy match since we knew each other well,” Kwon said after the match. “We kind of knew where the serve was coming, where the next stroke was going to land and things like that. But I think that’s also why we played a good match.” 
 
No. 121 Kwon is currently the Korean No. 1 and enters the tournament after spending a full season with 38 tournaments including four Grand Slams and the Davis Cup this year.
 
Kwon was initially scheduled to face Brandon Nakashima of the United States in the first, round but the American dropped out of the tournament after advancing to the finals at the San Diego Open.
 
Kwon will next face Jenson Brooksby of the United States in the Round of 16.  
 
Before then, Kwon is scheduled to play his first doubles match alongside countryman Chung Hyeon on Wednesday.  

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