Kwon Soon-woo crashes out of Wimbledon in 3-0 loss to Holger Rune

Tennis

Published: 03 Jul. 2024, 11:23 Updated: 03 Jul. 2024, 18:02

Kwon Soon-woo crashes out of Wimbledon in 3-0 loss to Holger Rune

Korea's Kwon Soon-woo returns the ball to Denmark's Holger Rune during their men's singles match on the second day of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Tuesday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Korean tennis player Kwon Soon-woo crashed out of Wimbledon in the first round on Tuesday after losing in three straight sets to No. 15 seed Holger Rune.

Kwon, currently ranked No. 367 in the ATP rankings and having managed to enter the men’s singles at the most prestigious Grand Slam tournament for the first time in three years, lost 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 to the Danish rising star.

It took Kwon five excruciating games in the first set in London to finally get his name onto the scoreboard as Rune cruised his way to 5-0 without letting Kwon take a single point. Narrowly avoiding a bagel in the first set, Kwon managed to take the sixth game, ending the set 6-1.

Korea's Kwon Soon-woo plays a forehand return to Holger Rune of Denmark during their first-round match at Wimbledon in London on Tuesday. [AP/YONHAP]

Holger Rune of Denmark plays a backhand return to Kwon Soon-woo of Korea during their first-round match at Wimbledon in London on Tuesday. [AP/YONHAP]

The second set seemed to start off better for Kwon, with the Korean pro succeeding in holding on to his serve games for the earlier part of the set. Kwon even saw a big chance in the fifth game with two break points but failed to convert them into anything.

Losing his serve game in the seventh game, Kwon then traded break points and set points with Rune in the next game as the two players went back and forth between deuces and advantage points, but Rune eventually took the set.

Kwon still played better in the third set than he had in the first, but that did not mean much against Rune. The Korean lost his serve game early in the set in the third game, and although he brought the scoreboard to a breakpoint in the seventh game, Rune smoothly sailed into the second round by finishing Kwon off in a largely uneven match.

Kwon Soon-woo of Korea plays a backhand return to Holger Rune of Denmark during their first-round match at Wimbledon in London on Tuesday. [AP/YONHAP]

Overall, Rune had 16 aces above Kwon’s two, and the Dane had 30 winners to the Korean’s 20.

Kwon has now crashed out of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, while managing to climb to the second round at the French Open.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]