Kwon Soon-woo made a lot of stroke mistakes in the second set, probably because he was careless because he finished the first set (6-3) with a 202 km/h sub ace in 31 minutes. Since he lost the game 3-6 while being dragged to 0-5, pride would not have allowed it even because of the ranking difference (Soon-Woo Kwon, 68th, Shell By 276th). Still, Kwon Soon-woo, who found composure in the third set, gave a confident stroke and smiled at the end.
Korean men’s tennis ace Kwon Soon-woo (Dangjin City Hall, ATP Ranking No. 68) beat Jordan’s 19-year-old in the first round of the 2023 Qatar ExxonMobil Open Tennis (ATP 250 Series) held in Doha, Qatar at 0:40 am on the 22nd (Wednesday, Korea time). She advanced to the round of 16 by defeating freshman Avedala Shelby (276th) 2-1 (6-3, 3-6, 6-4) in 1 hour 50 minutes and 43 seconds.
Looking forward to the round of 16 to meet 31st place ‘Pokina’
Avedala Shelby, who participated as a wild card in this tournament, is a left-handed player from Jordan and has little experience in the World Men’s Tennis Tour (ATP). Last week in the final of the ATP Challenger Tour held in Manama, Bahrain, she surprised experts by finishing runner-up after losing 0-2 to Tanashi Kokinakis (Australia, No. 141).
It was in the second set of this game that Kwon Soon-woo realized that Shelby’s momentum was unusual. Shel Bye, who broke his second game with Kwon Soon-woo serving, took a 5-0 lead. The relatively fast-tempo stroke rally on the hard court continued for a long time in earnest, and at the crucial moment Kwon Soon-woo’s mistakes were more noticeable.
Kwon Soon-woo, who lost the second set 3-6, focused again in the final set. He realized the flow that he should not give up even one of his own serve games. Kwon Soon-woo started the ninth game of his 3rd set with a serve ace of 199km/h and ended it happily with a serve ace of 180km/h, and continued that atmosphere until the tenth game. 토토사이트
In the face of Shelby’s serve game, Kwon Soon-woo, who focused on the return point, seized the final hurdle. Shelby’s stroke was shaken, and two match point opportunities came at 15:40. Shelby made a deuce with an amazing backhand cross angle shot as if she couldn’t back down, but Kwon Soon-woo’s back mind was enough to predict the next game.
Toward the ball that bounced relatively high, Kwon Soon-woo threw a bold forehand inside-out stroke to seize the third match point opportunity, and Kwon Soon-woo, who received the 210km/h serve well, ran to the net and ended the game with a forehand cross. Shelby returned the ball with a backhand, but it was too long and fell outside the court.
Kwon Soon-woo, who reached the round of 16 like this, will meet Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ATP No. 31) of Spain, who received the 7th seed in this tournament. It is also the first meeting with Pokina. It’s not an easy opponent by any means, but if he beats Fokina, he’s likely to face 9th ranked Felix Auger-Aliasim (Canada) in the quarterfinals.
