Nikoloz Basilashvili, Oksana Kalashnikova advance in Australian Open tennis tournament

Georgia’s Australian Open hopefuls Nikoloz Basilashvili and Oksana Kalashnikova continue to compete for honours at the Grand Slam tournament following victories in singles and doubles fixtures on Wednesday.

Basilashvili earned his second win in the competition by defeating Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans with a final score 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 in singles draw.

The 1 hour, 41 minute match saw the Georgian, ranked World No 61, advance past his opponent, ranked 117th.

The 25-year old now will face South Africa’s Kyle Edmund in Round 3 on Friday.

Basilashvili has faced Edmund before, with their fixture in the 2016 Roland Garros ending in South African’s favour after a closely contested match that ended 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, 6-1.

This is the furthest Basilashvili has advanced in the Australian Open, following Round 1 defeats over the past two years.

Representing Georgia in Women’s Doubles of the competition, Oksana Kalashnikova teamed up with United States’ Varvara Lepchenko on Wednesday.

The duo defeated Qiang Wang and Yafan Wang of China in their first match of the doubles fixtures with a score 6-4, 6-2 on Court 5.

Highlights of the game can be viewed on the Australian Open website here.