South Korean men's tennis is just one win away from reaching the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup for the first time.

Men's tennis ace Kwon Soon-woo (ranked 157th, Chungnam Sports Council) and Chung Hyeon (ranked 549th, Gimpo City Hall), the only South Korean to reach the semifinals of a major tournament, both secured comeback victories against Indian opponents, brightening South Korea's prospects of winning the second round of the 2026 Davis Cup Qualifiers.

In the first singles match held at the Seoul Olympic Park tennis courts today (September 18), Kwon Soon-woo came from behind to defeat Dakshineswar Suresh (ranked 367th) 2-1 (3-6 6-3 6-4).

After dropping the first set, Kwon turned the momentum around by securing his first break at 3-2 in the second set.

While leading 5-4 in the third set, he briefly showed signs of discomfort in his right leg, but ultimately clinched the match point with a service ace.

After the match, Kwon could not fully celebrate and collapsed onto the court due to muscle cramps.

Chung Hyeon, stepping up for the second singles match, also dropped the first set against Sumit Nagal (ranked 247th) before shifting the momentum in the second set and winning 2-1 (2-6 6-4 7-5).

Taking a 6-5 lead in a hard-fought third set, Chung captured the first two points with an exquisite passing shot to pull ahead 30-0, signaling victory.

Nagal fought back to 30-30 but committed a double fault, handing Chung an opportunity to secure match point, which Chung did not miss.

It took Chung 3 hours and 6 minutes to defeat Nagal.

This Davis Cup tie is played in a format of four singles and one doubles match, with the first country to win three matches taking the victory.

Tomorrow, one doubles and two singles matches are scheduled in succession.

In the doubles, the pair of Nam Ji-sung (Dangjin City Hall) and Park 의성 (Daegu City Hall) will face India's Sriram Balaji and Niki Poonacha.

If the match is not yet decided, encounters between Kwon Soon-woo and Nagal, and Chung Hyeon and Suresh, will follow in order.

South Korea needs just one win from these remaining three matches to claim victory.

Having defeated Argentina 3-2 in the first round to advance to the second round, South Korea will reach the Davis Cup Finals (quarterfinals) for the very first time in history if they also subdue India.

South Korea has never advanced to the Finals since its first appearance in the Davis Cup in 1960.

(Photo courtesy of the Korea Tennis Association, Yonhap News)