Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili reaches final of Austrian ATP tennis tournament
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Georgia's top tennis player Nikoloz Basilashvili has reached the final of a prestigious tennis tournament in Austria.
Basilashvili made it to the final round after defeating his opponent in the semi-final match earlier today.
Ranked world number 123, the Georgian player enjoyed an easy win over Serbia's Dusan Lajovic (83) with a score of 6-3, 6-1 in the play-off round of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Generali Open competition in Kitzbuhel.
The match lasted little over an hour and was played on Centre Court of the ATP tournament, which had a total €463,520 prize money. The semi-final win meant Basilashvili become the first Georgian to reach the final of an ATP World Tour singles competition.
He was quoted by the official ATP website as saying he was "very happy [and] very proud" of himself after working "very hard for this [result]".
Basilashvili will now face the winner of the other semi-final match between local favourite Gerald Melzer (107) and Italy's Paolo Lorenzi (48), which is due to finish later today. The tournament's final game will be played on Saturday.
Basilashvili helped Georgia secure its place in Group 2 of the Davis Cup tournament by defeating Zimbabwe in Tbilisi this week. Photo from the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia.
The ATP tournament in Austria was played on clay surface and featured 32 players from Europe and South America. It began on July 18.
Earlier in the competition Basilashvili defeated Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands in the Last 16 round with a score 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 before also eliminating Czech Republic's Adam Pavlasek in the quarterfinal with the result 5-7, 7-6, 6-3.
Earlier this week, the Georgian also helped the national team secure its place in Group 2 of the Davis Cup tennis tournament in a play-off fixture against Zimbabwe in Tbilisi.
Basilashvili has already won two ATP tournaments this year after triumphing in Challenger tournaments in Heilbronn, Germany and Guangzhou, China.
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