When the International Tennis Federation hosted back-to-back junior tournaments in Guam in early May, Junhyuk “Kevin” Seo of Guam played the best tennis of his career, becoming the only Guam player to win a first-round singles title during that two-week period, and he did so twice.
The 15-year-old Seo, currently competing for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands at the ITF J30 Saipan Northern Mariana Junior Championships, is doing even better, winning her first two singles rounds and advancing to the quarterfinals.
In his first match of the men's singles, Seo beat sixth seed Daiya Hino 6-2, 6-2. After beating the Japanese player in straight sets, Seo advanced to the round of 16 on Thursday, where he beat Andre Lam Jun Bart of Hong Kong 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
“I've been very fortunate these past three weeks,” Seo said. “I've been able to play with talented players while maintaining good sportsmanship.”
In addition to his two singles victories, Seo also won a doubles title with Darren Yong-Jun Lu of Australia. In the first round of men's doubles, Seo and Lu defeated Takuto Matsuo of Japan and Simon Tan of the Northern Mariana Islands 6-2, 6-2. After this dominant victory, Seo and Lu advanced to the quarterfinals, where they lost 6-4, 6-1 to Kim Kyung-Man and Na Woo-Yeong of South Korea.
Over the past three weeks, Seo's play has become more consistent, confident and complete.
“You have to hit all kinds of shots perfectly to win points, and I've become particularly good at heavy forehand topspin shots,” he said, adding that the past three weeks had been “very important” in moving forward in his tennis career.
Seo continues to improve and develop his shots and turn his weaknesses into strengths, but he told The Guam Daily Post he still has a lot of work to do, especially if he is to achieve his goal of competing on the men's professional tour.
“To achieve my dream of becoming a professional player, I need to develop a stronger serve and a more flexible short game,” said Seo. “In this match, I'm trying to hit heavy topspin shots consistently in every shot,” Seo said, revealing a bit of her strategy against Bart.
In the quarterfinals, Seo, who entered the tournament as a wild card, will face qualifier and third seed, Gyeom Do of South Korea. To beat Do, a junior tennis player ranked 996th in the world, Seo will need to continue to play more consistently and find a way to outperform his opponent.
Regardless of how Seo performs against Do, he is already thinking about returning to Guam to hone his game and become a better tennis player.
“My tennis technique is better now than yesterday. I have more rotation in my forehand strokes and I have more range in my defense,” Seo said. “But I still need to work on my short game. My coach, Kishan (Wickremesinghe), has made a plan with me to improve my serve when I get back to Guam.”