Soonwoo Kwon becomes second South Korean to win ATP singles title in the Open Era
South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon has become the ninth first-time ATP singles champion in 2021
Soonwoo Kwon (KOR) hits a backhand to Milos Raonic (CAN) at the AgBioEn Kooyong Classic on Day 1 in Melbourne Australia
Copyright: ZM / Panoramic
South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon win his first ATP Tour singles title on Sunday after defeating James Duckworth 7-6(6), 6-3 in one hour and 38 minutes at the Astana Open.
The win made Kwon only the second male player from South Korea to win an ATP singles title after Hyung-Taik Lee won the Sydney title in 2003.
“I am really happy to win my first ATP 250 title,” Kwon said as quoted by the ATP Tour website. “I am just really, really happy to win today. It was a tough match today against James. He served really well and played very well and I tried to focus every single point.”
Ranked No 82 in the world coming into Astana, 23-year-old Soonwoo Kwon moves to a new career-best ranking of No. 57 while Duckworth climbs nine spots to also move to a new career high of No. 56.
Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni won the doubles title in Astana, their first as a team, with a straight-sets win over Jonathan Elrich and Andrei Vasilevski.
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