Shinhwa’s Jeong-hyeon (26) returns to the court in the semifinals. 

The ‘ATP Seoul Open Challenger 125’ will be held for 7 days from the 24th (Mon) to the 30th (Sun) at the Olympic Tennis Stadium in Seoul Olympic Park. The singles round of 32 tournament will start on the 24th, and the doubles round of 16 tournament will be held from the 26th. The finals are the final day of the competition.

This competition, which will be held as a 125k series, will give 125 ranking points to the winner. The total prize money is 160,000 dollars (approximately 210 million won).

In the past, famous stars such as Jung Hyeon, Kwon Soon-woo, Mackenzie Macdonald (USA), and Wu Yibing (China) were active in this competition and prepared a stepping stone to enter the top 100.

As the level of the tournament is high, there is only one domestic player, Hong Seong-chan (Sejong City Hall, 210th place), who voluntarily participates in the finals. Korean tennis ace Kwon Soon-woo is absent due to preparations for the European clay court tournament.

But instead, superstar Jeong Hyeon returns to the court, competing in both singles and doubles. On the 18th, Yoo Jin-sun, former coach of Uijeongbu City Hall, who served as the Seoul Open Challenger Tournament Director, said, “Jung Hyun received a wild card in the finals and it was decided to participate in both singles and doubles.”

This is great news for fans who have been waiting for him. In particular, Jung Hyeon’s singles appearance is the first in about two years and seven 스포츠토토months since the French Open qualifiers in September 2020. 

Chung Hyun wrote history by advancing to the semifinals at the 2018 Australian Open singles. It is the highest performance achievement by a Korean player in a major tournament. However, after that, he suffered from a chronic back injury and was unable to stand on the singles court. This tournament is the stage where we can see him on the singles court again. 

Meanwhile, Christopher Eubanks (USA, 84th), who reached the quarterfinals at the Miami Open (Masters 1000) in April, is likely to be the top seed for the tournament. Yoo Bangs, whose main specialty is serve ace, is familiar to Korean fans after winning against Kwon Soon-woo in the first round of the Australian Open last January after a close match in 5 sets. Expectations are high whether he will put a strong serve ace in the Olympic tennis stadium.

A large number of Australian players participate. 10 out of 32 finalists, accounting for about 30%. Jordan Thompson (84th), Max Purcell (86th) and James Duckworth (110th), who won the Challenger four times last year, will appear. 2023 Australian Open doubles winner Linky Hijigata (136th), Alexander Bukichi (151st), John Millman (211th), and Litu (233rd), who defeated Wu Yibing last year to become the Seoul Open champion, also stand out.

The competition among the qualifiers is also fierce. There are 64 people on the waiting list. Jung Yoon-seong (Uijeongbu City Hall, 351st place) automatically advanced, and Nam Ji-seong (Sejong City Hall) is in the 5th place on standby for the preliminaries. Lee Deok-hee (Sejong City Hall) is on the waiting list 31st, Jang Yun-seok (Anseong City Hall, 844th place) is on the waiting list 34th, and Shin San-hee (1034th place) and Shin Woo-bin (1073rd place), who are challenging international competitions after completing military service, are also on the waiting list. belonged Leo Borg, the son of tennis legend Bjorn Borg (Sweden), also belonged to the 10th waiting list.

This tournament will be broadcast live on Genie TV (No. 125), LG U+ (No. 131), D’Live (No. 236), YouTube channels, and Naver Sports through STN Sports, a sports channel.