Two Korean players eliminated in opening round of WTA Korea Open

Back Da-yeon roars in celebration after defeating Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in the round of 32 at the Hana Bank Korea Open 2023, a WTA Tour event, at Olympic Park Tennis Court in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on Oct. 10, 2023. [YONHAP]

 
Two Korean players were knocked out of the first round at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournament taking place on their home soil Monday.
 
Ku Yeon-woo lost to Lois Boisson of France in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, in the round of 32 at the Korea Open at Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul.
 
 
Ku, 22, was also eliminated after her first match at her Korea Open debut in 2023 and then lost in the qualification round in 2024.
 
Boisson, world No. 49, had a stunning run to the semifinals at this year’s French Open — the first to go that far at a French Open as a wild card since the start of the Open era in 1968. At 22 years and nine days old, Boisson also became the youngest French semifinalist in a women’s singles Grand Slam event since 1999.
 
Boisson will next face No. 2 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the round of 16.
 
Earlier Monday, Park So-hyun lost to Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic by 6-2, 6-2.
 
Siniakova is ranked 77th in the singles but No. 2 in the doubles. She won the women’s doubles title at the Australian Open and the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon this year.
 
She is also the 2021 Olympic champion in the women’s doubles and the 2024 Olympic gold medalist in the mixed doubles.
 
In the round of 16, Siniakova will meet Daria Kasatkina of Australia, world No. 16 and the 2024 Korea Open runner-up.
 
The losses by Ku and Park leave Back Da-yeon as the only Korean left in the tournament. She will face the defending champion from Brazil, Beatriz Haddad Maia, in her first round match Tuesday.
 
The Korea Open is the lone WTA tournament played in Korea each fall.

Yonhap