Soonwoo Kwon delivered a high-quality show of baseline hitting on Friday on the Adelaide Worldwide 2, the place he clinched a spot within the championship match with a 7-6(6), 6-7(2), 6-3 victory towards Jack Draper.
The important thing to Kwon’s victory in an engrossing two-hour, 45-minute encounter with Draper was his constant clear ballstriking from the baseline, significantly off his forehand wing. The World No. 84 struck 44 winners to his opponent’s 36, and he additionally excelled at any time when he got here beneath strain on serve — Kwon saved 9 of 10 break factors he confronted en path to levelling his ATP Head2Head sequence with Draper at 1-1.
The South Korean, who misplaced to Draper final week as a qualifier in Adelaide, was set to overlook out on this week’s ATP 250 after a defeat to Tomas Machac within the last spherical of qualifying. However after discovering himself within the draw, he instantly avenged his loss to Machac within the opening spherical earlier than downing second seed Pablo Carreno Busta and Mikael Ymer to achieve the final 4.
After gaining payback on Draper, he’s by to his second ATP Tour last after his 2021 title run in Astana (then Nur-Sultan). Kwon is the primary fortunate loser to achieve the ultimate in Adelaide’s match historical past, with six editions of the occasion performed since 2020.
Kwon, whose path to the title spherical contains an upset of second seed Pablo Carreno Busta, awaits dwelling favorite and defending champion Thanasi Kokkinakis or fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
Extra tales like this in: