The Korea Herald

피터빈트

S. Korean Kwon Soon-woo wins 1st round men's singles match at Wimbledon

By Yonhap

Published : June 30, 2021 - 09:13

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In this Associated Press photo, Kwon Soon-woo of South Korea hits a return to Daniel Masur of Germany during their men's singles match at Wimbledon at the All England Club in London on Monday. (AP-Yonhap) In this Associated Press photo, Kwon Soon-woo of South Korea hits a return to Daniel Masur of Germany during their men's singles match at Wimbledon at the All England Club in London on Monday. (AP-Yonhap)
It took him two days, but South Korea's Kwon Soon-woo finally has his first victory in the men's singles at Wimbledon.

The 71st-ranked Kwon defeated Daniel Masur of Germany 3-1 (6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4) in the opening round match of the Grand Slam tournament in London on Tuesday (local time).

Their match began Monday after more than three hours of rain delay and was suspended due to darkness after Masur took the first set in 51 minutes.

When the match resumed the following day, Kwon quickly took control of the match by winning the next two sets.

With Kwon up 2-0 in the fourth set, Mother Nature intervened once again and caused another rain delay of about four hours. Kwon didn't lose his momentum and dispatched the 222nd-ranked German in four sets.

The match itself took two hours and 34 minutes. Kwon scored 14 aces and led Masur in winners, 41-33.

Kwon is coming off a trip to the third round at the previous Grand Slam tournament, French Open, earlier this month. The Australian Open is now the only major competition where Kwon has yet to pick up a win.

In the second round, Kwon will face another German player, the 62nd-ranked Dominik Koepfer. It will be the first meeting between the two players, and both will try to get past the second round of Wimbledon for the first time. (Yonhap)