Kwon Soon-woo crashes out of Adelaide International

Kwon Soon-woo [YONHAP]

Kwon Soon-woo’s 2023 season got off to a bad start on Monday as the top Korean dropped out of the Adelaide International in the first round, losing in straight sets to Jack Draper of the United Kingdom.

Draper, the world No. 42, dominated Kwon, winning both sets with ease, 6-2, 6-1.

The quick loss was an inauspicious start for the world No. 83, who earned his spot in the tournament after beating Dominic Thiem of Austria in straight sets in the first round of qualifying and Taro Daniel of Japan after a tight match with two tiebreakers in the second round.

Kwon had an up-and-down end to the 2022 season in October last year, crashing out of the Busan Open, which he entered as the top seed, in the quarterfinals. A couple of weeks before that, Kwon made it to the semifinals at the Tokyo Open, beating then-world No. 23 Alex de Minaur of Australia en route to the final four.

A week before the Tokyo Open was the inaugural Korea Open, a rare ATP 250 event held on Korean soil due to Covid-19 lockdowns in China. Kwon entered the tournament as the obvious Korean favorite, but failed to make it past the round of 16.

The Adelaide International is typically one of the more exciting ATP 250 events of the season as it runs directly into the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, so tends to draw a lot of big names.

This year’s lineup includes world No. 5 Novak Djokovic, No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime, No. 7 Daniil Medvedev and No. 8 Andrey Rublev.

Kwon’s presence in Adelaide suggests that he intends to stay through for the Australian Open, which he will likely have to enter through qualifiers.

Men’s and women’s qualifiers begin on Jan. 9, with the tournament proper starting on Jan. 16.

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