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Match details
Fixture: (2) Alex de Minaur vs Kwon Soon-woo
Date: 25 June 2021
Tournament: Viking International Eastbourne 2021
Round: Semifinals
Venue: Eastbourne, Great Britain
Category: ATP 250
Surface: Grass
Prize money: €547,265
Match timing: Approx. 4 pm local time, 3 pm GMT, 11 am EST, 8.30 pm IST
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video
Alex de Minaur vs Kwon Soon-woo preview
Alex De Minaur has been on song on grass this year. The Aussie followed up his quarterfinal appearance at Stuttgart with a semifinal run at Queen's, and has assured himself of at least as much this week in Eastbourne.
De Minaur hasn't dropped a single set in the tournament so far. In fact, he hasn't dropped more than four games in any of the four sets he has played to reach the final four.
While the comfortable nature of De Minaur's victory was expected against Liam Broady in the second round, many believed Vasek Pospisil could trouble him in the quarterfinals. But as the highest-ranked player remaining in the draw, the 22-year-old showed no signs of weakness on Thursday.
He won 81% of his first-serve points and broke Pospisil thrice to notch up a comfortable win in straight sets.
Having come through as a lucky loser in Eastbourne, Kwon Soon-woo wasn't favored to go deep in the main draw. But within a week of his loss to Alastair Gray in the first round of qualification, Kwon finds himself among the final four players vying for the title.
As fourth seed Reilly Opelka's replacement in the draw, Kwon was the benefactor of an opening-round bye. In the Round of 16, the 23-year-old narrowly edged out Marton Fucsovics in a match that saw both players win the same number of points - 114 each - after two and a half hours of play.
Ilya Ivashka was up next. Incidentally, in the first round Ivashka had taken out Alastair Gray - who had also entered the draw as a lucky loser.
In the quarterfinal match on Thursday, Kwon got aced 14 times by Ivashka. But he saved five of the six break points he faced, and ultimately prevailed in two tight sets.
Alex de Minaur vs Kwon Soon-woo head-to-head
Alex de Minaur and Kwon Soon-woo have never met on the main tour, so their head-to-head currently stands at 0-0.
Alex de Minaur vs Kwon Soon-woo prediction
While Kwon Soon-woo has overcome plenty of odds so far this week, taking out Alex de Minaur might be too big an ask.
De Minaur has been in fine form this week, and has seemingly been getting better with every match. While scorelines are often close on grass, the percentage of service and return points is a fair indicator of the degree of dominance within a match. And that is where the Australian has distinguished himself from the pack.
Kwon should be expected to make the match competitive, given how well he has fared this week. But De Minaur's higher level of play might eventually make a telling difference.
Prediction: Alex de Minaur to win in three sets.
