South Korea will host a tournament on the top men's tennis tour for the first time in more than a quarter century this fall.
The ATP Tour announced Friday that Seoul will host the Korea Open from Sept. 26 to Oct. 2 at Olympic Park Tennis Center. It will be the tour's first event in South Korea since 1996.
The South Korean capital hosted an ATP-level event from 1987 to 1996. The city has since staged only tournaments on the second-tier ATP Challenger Tour.
The ATP said the Korea Open is one of six single-year events for this season, along with tournaments in the United States, Israel, Italy and Spain, among other places. The tour canceled four tournaments scheduled in China due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The six new events are all ATP 250 tournaments, in the lowest tier in ATP below the four Grand Slam tournaments, ATP Finals, ATP Masters 1000 and ATP 500 events.
Kwon Soon-woo is the highest-ranked South Korean ATP player at No. 77.
A week before the men's event, Olympic Park Tennis Center will host a tournament from the top women's tour, the Hana Bank Korea Open. The WTA 250 event will run from Sept. 19 to 25. (Yonhap)