Kwon Soon-woo (Korean: 권순우; born 2 December 1997) is a South Korean professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 52 ranking by the ATP, achieved in November 2021 and a doubles ranking of world No. 224, attained in December 2022. Kwon has won two ATP, three ATP Challenger Tour and five ITF World Tennis Tour singles titles.

Kwon Soon-woo
권순우
Kwon at the 2022 French Open
Country (sports) South Korea
Born (1997-12-02) 2 December 1997 (age 27)
Sangju, South Korea
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro2015
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
CoachDaniel Yoo
Prize moneyUS $3,064,876
Singles
Career record67–72
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 52 (1 November 2021)
Current rankingNo. 342 (14 October 2024)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (2022)
French Open3R (2021)
Wimbledon2R (2021)
US Open2R (2020, 2022)
Other tournaments
Doubles
Career record7–15
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 224 (19 December 2022)
Current rankingNo. 1728 (14 October 2024)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open3R (2022)
French Open1R (2020, 2022)
Wimbledon1R (2022)
US Open1R (2021, 2022, 2024)
Team competitions
Davis Cup9–3 (singles 9–2, doubles 0–1)
Medal record
Men's tennis
Representing  South Korea
Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Hangzhou Doubles
Last updated on: 16 October 2024.
Kwon Soon-woo
Hangul
권순우
Revised RomanizationGwon Sunu
McCune–ReischauerKwŏn Sunu

He broke into the top 100 of the ATP singles rankings in August 2019 after reaching the quarterfinals at the Los Cabos Open and contested his first ATP Tour final at the Astana Open in September 2021, where he won his maiden title and made his top 60 debut. In January 2023, he won his second ATP Tour title at the Adelaide International as a lucky loser, becoming the first Korean to win multiple ATP titles and the tenth lucky loser winner overall in the Open Era.

Early life

edit

Kwon was born in a small town Sangju and began playing tennis at age 10. He moved to Seoul at age 16 and attended high school there with Lee Duck-hee, another future ATP Tour player. His father Younghun is a talented amateur tennis player and introduced him to tennis. His favorite surface is hard and favorite shots are down-the-line forehand and drop shot.[1]

Professional career

edit

2018–2019: ATP Tour & Grand Slam & top 100 debuts

edit

Kwon made his tour-level and Grand Slam debut after winning the 2018 Asia-Pacific Wildcard Playoff for the main draw of the 2018 Australian Open.[2]

He made his top 100 debut on 5 August 2019 at world No. 97, after reaching the quarterfinals as a qualifier at the 2019 Los Cabos Open.

2020–2021: First major win at the US Open; French Open third round, maiden ATP title

edit
 
Kwon at the 2021 French Open

In February 2020, Kwon reached four consecutive ATP Tour-level quarterfinals in Pune, New York, Delray Beach and Acapulco. As a result, Kwon rose to a career-high ranking of 69 on 2 March 2020. Kwon defeated world No. 24, Dušan Lajović, in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals in Acapulco, which was his first ATP 500 event. He lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.

At the 2020 US Open Kwon recorded his first win in a Grand Slam defeating wildcard Thai-Son Kwiatkowski.

Kwon reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career at the 2021 French Open where he defeated South African Kevin Anderson and Andreas Seppi before losing to another Italian ninth seed and eventual quarterfinalist Matteo Berrettini.

Despite losing in qualifying at the Eastbourne International, Kwon entered with a second-round bye as a lucky loser after Reilly Opelka withdrew.[3] He made the semifinals before falling to Alex de Minaur. Kwon was competing in his maiden ATP Tour semifinal after winning his first quarterfinal in his eighth attempt against Ilya Ivashka.[4]

In Astana, Kwon won his first ATP Tour-level title. There, he defeated qualifier Evgeny Donskoy, third seed Dušan Lajović, and seventh seed Laslo Đere to reach his second ATP semifinal. In the semifinal, he defeated home favourite and second seed Alexander Bublik to advance to his first ATP Tour-level final. He defeated James Duckworth in straight sets to win his first ATP title and became the first South Korean to win on the ATP Tour and only the second Korean to win a tour-level title in the Open era since 2003 Sydney champion Hyung-Taik Lee.[5] As a result, he reached a new career-high of No. 57 on 27 September 2021.[6]

2022: Maiden ATP 500 singles semifinal, Australian Open doubles third round

edit

At the Australian Open, he won his first match defeating Holger Rune in five sets. He lost in the second round to Denis Shapovalov in a tight five-set match with three tiebreaks.

At Wimbledon, he lost in the first round to the top seed and eventual champion, Novak Djokovic, in four sets.

Ranked No. 120 at the Japan Open, he reached the quarterfinals for a second time at the ATP 500-level defeating sixth seed Alex de Minaur and Mackenzie McDonald.[7] He defeated Pedro Martínez to reach his first ATP 500-level semifinal. As a result, he moved more than 30 positions up in the rankings, back into the top 100.

2023–2024: Second title won as lucky loser, hiatus, Olympics debut

edit

He won his second career ATP title in Adelaide, defeating Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets. In doing so, he became the first Korean to win multiple ATP titles.[8] He became the first lucky loser to reach the final in Adelaide's tournament history and the first to win an ATP Tour title since Marco Cecchinato in Budapest in 2018, and the tenth lucky loser champion overall.[9]

After a six months hiatus, he returned to the 2023 US Open and the 2024 Australian Open using protected ranking.

Personal life

edit

On May 22, 2023, it was confirmed that Kwon is dating singer Yubin of Wonder Girls.[10] On October 5, 2023, Yubin's agency confirmed their break-up.[11]

National representation

edit

Kwon has represented South Korea in the Davis Cup.[12] He was first nominated to the team for the 2017 Davis Cup, making his debut against Uzbek tennis player Denis Istomin.

Kwon represented South Korea at the 2022 Davis Cup Finals and recorded his first victory over a top-20 player by defeating world No. 13, Félix Auger-Aliassime 7–6(5), 6–3 in the group stage tie versus Canada.[13]

Performance timelines

edit
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles

edit

Current through the 2024 Davis Cup.

Tournament 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 SR W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A 1R Q1 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 0 / 6 1–6
French Open A A Q1 1R 3R 1R A 2R 0 / 4 3–4
Wimbledon Q1 A 1R NH 2R 1R A 1R 0 / 4 1–4
US Open Q1 A 1R 2R 1R 2R 1R 1R 0 / 6 2–6
Win–loss 0–0 0–1 0–2 1–3 3–4 2–4 0–2 1–4 0 / 20 7–20
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A A NH 1R 1R A Q1 0 / 2 0–2
Miami Open A A A NH 1R 1R A 2R 0 / 3 1–3
Monte-Carlo Masters A A A NH A Q1 A A 0 / 0 0–0
Madrid Open A A A NH A 1R A A 0 / 1 0–1
Italian Open A A A Q1 A Q1 A A 0 / 0 0–0
Canadian Open A A 1R NH A Q2 A A 0 / 1 0–1
Cincinnati Masters A A A Q2 Q1 Q1 A A 0 / 0 0–0
Shanghai Masters A A A Not Held A A 0 / 0 0–0
Paris Masters A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–2 0–3 0–0 1–1 0 / 7 1–7
National representation
Davis Cup Z1 Z1 Z1 A WG1 RR RR WG1 0 / 2 12–9
Career statistics
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Career
Tournaments 0 1 7 7 16 22 6 6 64
Titles / Finals 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 1 / 1 0 / 0 1 / 1 0 / 0 2 / 2
Overall win–loss 3–1 0–2 7–7 8–7 19–15 20–24 7–9 3–7 67–72
Win % 75% 0% 50% 53% 56% 45% 44% 30% 48.2%
Year-end ranking 168 235 88 95 53 83 196

Doubles

edit

Current through the 2022 Korea Open.

Tournament 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 SR W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A 1R A 3R 0 / 2 2–2
French Open A A 1R A 1R 0 / 2 0–2
Wimbledon A A NH A 1R 0 / 1 0–1
US Open A A A 1R 1R 0 / 2 0–2
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–2 0–1 2–4 0 / 7 2–7
National representation
Davis Cup Z1 A A A A 0 / 0 0–1
Career statistics
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Career
Tournaments 1 2 2 1 7 13
Titles / Finals 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0
Overall win–loss 0–1 2–2 0–2 0–1 5–7 7–13
Year-end ranking 0 280 342 851 232 35%

ATP Tour finals

edit

Singles: 2 (2 titles)

edit
Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
ATP Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP 500 (0–0)
ATP 250 (2–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoor (1–0)
Indoor (1–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Sep 2021 Astana Open, Kazakhstan ATP 250 Hard (i)   James Duckworth 7–6(8–6), 6–3
Win 2–0 Jan 2023 Adelaide International 2, Australia ATP 250 Hard   Roberto Bautista Agut 6–4, 3–6, 7–6(7–4)

Records

edit
  • These records were attained in the Open era of tennis.
Tournament Year Record accomplished Player tied
Adelaide International 2023 Winning an ATP tournament as lucky loser Heinz Günthardt
Bill Scanlon
Francisco Clavet
Christian Miniussi
Sergiy Stakhovsky
Rajeev Ram
Leonardo Mayer
Andrey Rublev
Marco Cecchinato[14]

Davis Cup

edit
Legend
Group membership
World Group (0)
Group I (7–3)
Group II (0)
Group III (0)
Group IV (0)
Rubber outcome Rubber Match type (partner if any) Opponent nation Opponent player(s) Score
 1–3; 3–5 February 2017; Gimcheon Sports Town Tennis Courts, Gimcheon, South Korea; Group I Asia/Oceania First round; Hard surface
Defeat IV Singles   Uzbekistan Denis Istomin 6–3, 6–7(5–7), 2–6, 6–7(12–14)
 2–3; 7–9 April 2017; ASB Tennis Arena, Auckland, New Zealand; Group I Asia/Oceania First round play-offs; Hard surface
Victory II Singles   New Zealand Michael Venus 6–2, 6–2, 7–6(7–1)
Victory IV Singles José Statham 6–3, 6–2, 6–4
 2–3; 15–17 September 2017; Yang Gu Tennis Park, Yang Gu, South Korea; Group I Asia/Oceania Second round play-offs; Hard surface
Victory II Singles   Chinese Taipei Jason Jung 6–3, 6–4, 2–6, 7–6(7–4)
 0–4; 2–3 February 2018; Pakistan Sports Complex, Islamabad, Pakistan; Group I Asia/Oceania First round; Grass surface
Defeat I Singles   Pakistan Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 3–6, 6–1, 6–7(6–8)
Defeat III Doubles (with Lim Yong-kyu) Aqeel Khan

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi

6–7(8–10), 4–6
 3–1; 14–15 September 2019; Guiyang Olympic Sports Center Tennis Stadium, Guiyang, China; Group I Asia/Oceania; Hard surface
Victory I Singles   China Zhang Zhizhen 7–6(7–4), 6–7(4–7), 7–5
Victory IV Singles Bai Yan 6–4, 6–3
 3–1; 17–18 September 2021; The International Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport, USA; World Group I; Grass surface
Victory II Singles   New Zealand Finn Reynolds 7–6(7–1), 6–3
Victory IV Singles Rubin Statham 6–3, 6–3

ATP Challenger Tour finals

edit

Singles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runner-ups)

edit
Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (3–3)
Finals by surface
Hard (3–3)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Mar 2017 Yokohama, Japan Challenger Hard   Yūichi Sugita 4–6, 6–2, 6–7(2–7)
Loss 0–2 May 2017 Seoul, South Korea Challenger Hard   Thomas Fabbiano 6–1, 4–6, 3–6
Loss 0–3 Sep 2018 Kaohsiung, Taiwan Challenger Hard (i)   Gaël Monfils 4–6, 6–2, 1–6
Win 1–3 Mar 2019 Yokohama, Japan Challenger Hard   Oscar Otte 7–6, 6–3
Win 2–3 May 2019 Seoul, South Korea Challenger Hard   Max Purcell 7–5, 7–5
Win 3–3 Feb 2021 Biella II, Italy Challenger Hard (i)   Lorenzo Musetti 6–2, 6–3

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

edit
Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (0–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jun 2019 Surbiton, United Kingdom Challenger Grass   Ramkumar Ramanathan   Marcel Granollers
  Ben McLachlan
6–4, 3–6, [2–10]

ITF Futures finals

edit

Singles: 5 (5 titles)

edit
Legend
ITF Futures (5–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (5–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Nov 2015 Cambodia F1, Phnom Penh Futures Hard   Son Ji-hoon 7–5, 6–1
Win 2–0 Dec 2015 Cambodia F2, Phnom Penh Futures Hard   Huang Liang-chi 6–3, 6–3
Win 3–0 Mar 2016 Japan F2, Nishitokyo Futures Hard   Yuya Kibi 6–3, 6–4
Win 4–0 Jul 2016 Korea F5, Gimcheon Futures Hard   Cho Min-hyeok 6–4, 6–4
Win 5–0 Dec 2016 Thailand F5, Hua Hin Futures Hard   Daniel Altmaier 6–2, 6–2

Doubles: 5 (2 titles, 3 runner-ups)

edit
Legend
ITF Futures (2–3)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–3)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Sep 2015 Korea F6, Anseong Futures Clay (i)   Son Ji-hoon   Noh Sang-woo
  Nam Ji-sung
6–7(4–7), 6–3, [13–11]
Loss 1–1 Nov 2015 Cambodia F1, Phnom Penh Futures Hard   Son Ji-hoon   Liu Shao-fan
  Lee Kuan-yi
7–6(8–6), 4–6, [11–13]
Win 2–1 Mar 2016 Japan F2, Nishitokyo Futures Hard   Chung Yun-seong   Issei Okamura
  Kento Takeuchi
2–6, 6–2, [10–3]
Loss 2–2 Dec 2016 Thailand F5, Hua Hin Futures Hard   Lee Jea-moon   Sadio Doumbia
  Fabien Reboul
3–6, 4–6
Loss 2–3 Jun 2018 Korea F3, Daegu Futures Hard   Lim Yong-kyu   Chung Yun-seong
  Hong Seong-chan
walkover

ITF Junior Circuit

edit

Singles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

edit
Legend
Category GA (0–0)
Category G1 (0–0)
Category G2 (0–0)
Category G3 (1–0)
Category G4 (0–0)
Category G5 (3–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Category Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Apr 2013 2013 Gimcheon International Junior Championships, South Korea G5 Hard   Chung Yun-seong 4–6, 3–6
Win 1–1 Apr 2014 2014 Gimcheon International Junior Championships, South Korea G5 Hard   Shin San-hui 6–3, 6–0
Win 2–1 Sep 2014 China Junior 15 Guangzhou, China G3 Hard   Daniel Nolan 6–1, 6–2
Win 3–1 Apr 2015 2015 ITF Sunchang International Junior Championships, South Korea G5 Hard   Christopher Yun 5–1 ret.
Win 4–1 Apr 2015 2015 Gimcheon International Junior Championships, South Korea G5 Hard   Im Seong-taek 6–1, 6–2

Doubles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

edit
Legend
Category GA (0–0)
Category G1 (0–1)
Category G2 (0–1)
Category G3 (0–0)
Category G4 (2–0)
Category G5 (1–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Category Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jun 2012 2012 Gimcheon International Junior Championships, South Korea G5 Hard   Kim Young-seok   Hong Seong-chan

  Kang Ku-keon

3–6, 2–6
Win 1–1 Apr 2013 2013 Jeju International Junior Championships, South Korea G4 Hard   Oh Chan-yeong   Han Jin-sung

  Hyun Geong-hwan

6–3, 6–2
Win 2–1 Apr 2013 2013 Sunchang International Junior Championships, South Korea G5 Hard   Oh Chan-yeong   Lee Min-hyun

  Shin San-hui

6–4, 3–6, [10–1]
Win 3–1 Apr 2014 2014 Jeju International Junior Championships, South Korea G4 Hard   Go Hyun-sik   Lim Min-seob

  Shin San-hui

6–4, 7–5
Loss 3–2 Nov 2014 2014 Lee Duk Hee Cup Chuncheon International Junior Tennis Championships, South Korea G2 Hard   Oh Chan-yeong   Jake Delaney

  Akira Santillan

6–3, 3–6, [8–10]
Loss 3–3 Nov 2014 2014 Seogwipo Asia Oceania International Junior Tennis Championships, South Korea G1 Hard   Shin San-hui   Shohei Chikami

  Yosuke Watanuki

3–6, 4–6

References

edit
  1. ^ ATP Staff (26 September 2021). "First-Time Winner Spotlight: Soonwoo Kwon". ATP Tour. ATP Tour, Inc. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  2. ^ "#NextGenATP de Minaur, Kwon Earn Australian Open Wild Cards".
  3. ^ "Kwon Soon-woo reaches semifinals at Eastbourne International". 25 June 2021.
  4. ^ "Lorenzo Sonego Reaches Second Final of Season at Eastbourne".
  5. ^ "Kwon Captures Maiden ATP Tour Title In Nur-Sultan"."Kwon the first South Korean to win on ATP Tour in 18 years". Reuters. 27 September 2021.
  6. ^ "Kwon Soon-woo rises to 57th in world tennis rankings after first ATP Tour title". 27 September 2021.
  7. ^ "ATP Tokyo Quarterfinal Predictions Including Nick Kyrgios vs Taylor Fritz". 6 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Kwon Edges Bautista Agut To Seal Stunning Adelaide Triumph". 14 January 2023.
  9. ^ "History in Adelaide: Lucky loser Kwon becomes first Korean to win multiple ATP singles titles". 14 January 2023.
  10. ^ Park Yoon-jin (May 22, 2023). "원더걸스 유빈, 9살 연하 韓 테니스 간판 권순우와 열애 인정…"좋은 감정으로 만남 중" [공식]" [Wonder Girls' Yubin admits to dating Kwon Soon-woo, a Korean tennis player who is 9 years younger... "Meeting with good feelings" [Official]] (in Korean). My Daily. Retrieved May 22, 2023 – via Naver.
  11. ^ Jung, Hee-yeon (October 5, 2023). "유빈-권순우 결별 "응원하는 친구로 남기로" [공식입장]" [Yubin and Kwon Soonwoo break up, “We will remain as supportive friends” [Official statement]] (in Korean). SportsDonga. Retrieved October 5, 2023 – via Naver.
  12. ^ "Korea to play Uzbekistan in Davis Cup qualifier". 1 February 2017.
  13. ^ "Canada rallies against Korea Republic to win 2–1". 14 September 2022.
  14. ^ "ATP Budapest: Lucky loser Marco Cecchinato wins the first ATP title". tennisworldusa.org. 29 April 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018. Cecchinato is the ninth player in the Open era who won an ATP title as a lucky loser and the third in the last two seasons after Andrey Rublev and Leonardo Mayer in Umag and Hamburg last July.
edit