Toughest Junior Racquet, Kim Sun-yong Advances to the Semifinals at Major International

The highly regarded “prospect of the court,” Kim Sun-yong (18, Yang Myeong High School, photo), wrote a new chapter of Korean tennis history. He became the first ever Korea male player to win the quarterfinal for the junior singles at the Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific.

Kim, who is sponsored by Samsung Securities as the top player of the World Junior Championship, came from behind to beat Carsten Ball (United States), who ranks 29th, at the World Junior Championship, by a score of 2-1(5-7, 6-3, 6-2) after a full-set match over one hour and 49 minutes long at the quarterfinal match of the Australian Open’s men’s singles held at Melbourne, Australia on January 28.

It is the first time a junior male player advanced to the semifinals at a major tournament. For female players, Jeon Mi-ra (Samsung Securities) went to the finals for the women’s singles at Wimbledon in 1994, losing to Martina Hingis (Swiss).

Kim, who demonstrated a strong finish, coming from behind to win three matches out of four up till the quarterfinal, is facing off against Robin Haase (Netherlands), sixth in the World Junior, and also the fourth seed. Haase won two second level junior tournaments in Europe last year, and it is his first time playing against Kim Sun-yong.

On the match on January 28, he faced some difficulties, letting go of the first set, but he had 30 critical shots, five more than his opponent, with 25 misses, which is 22 less than the rival to win the second and third set with ease.

At the finals for the women’s doubles, Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)-Alicia Molik (Australia) beat Lindsay Davenport-Corina Morariu (U.S.) 2-0 (6-3, 6-4) to win the cup. It is the sixth second place finish in the doubles of this tournament since 1996 for Davenport, who will be facing Serena Williams (U.S.) at the final for the women’s singles on January 29.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com