Georgia’s top tennis player Nikoloz Basilashvili wins big in China

Georgian tennis player Nikoloz Basilashvili claimed his first tournament win of the year by winning the Guangzhou Challenger. Photo from www.tennispress.it.
Agenda.ge, 21 Mar 2016 - 18:26, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgian tennis star Nikoloz Basilashvili collected his first prize of the year after winning the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Guangzhou Challenger international competition in China today.

Basilashvili, the tournament's seventh seed, won the final match against fifth seed Lukas Lacko of Slovakia in three sets, 6-1, 6-7, 7-5.

Basilashvili, Georgia's top ranking player won the tournament that featured 32 players from around the world.

The win contributed a valuable 90 points to Basilashvili's overall ATP ranking. Photo from www.tcbf.de.

Georgia's top player kicked off his tournament by beating Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli in the First 16 stage before overcoming Croatia's Franco Skugor in the quarter-finals.

In the semi-finals Basilashvili led his match against Israel's Dudi Sela before his opponent retired with an injury.

Basilashvili’s victory in the Guangzhou Challenger final granted the Georgian player 90 rating points to contribute to his current 107th place in official ATP rankings.

Basilashvili held his career-best 86th world singles ranking in October 2015. He played at the 2016 Australian Open before being eliminated by world tennis legend Roger Federer in the first round of the Grand Slam tournament.

Last year he won his second ATP Challenger Tour in Israel by defeating his Guangzhou final opponent Lacko.

The Guangzhou Challenger tournament ran from March 15-21.