Basilashvili Successfully Defends Hamburg Title
Nikoloz Basilashvili is becoming the king of ATP 500s. The Georgian picked up his 3rd ATP Title (all of which have been at the 500 level) in Hamburg this week after defeating an in-form Andrey Rublev 7-5 4-6 6-3 in a big hitting final. Basilashvili impressively came through a stacked draw which featured 3 top 10 players including French Open finalist Dominic Thiem and home favourite Alexander Zverev, showing the tennis world just how much talent he possesses.
Basilashvili, who will begin next week at a career high ranking of 16, will now be hoping that he can back up his victory here with more success at bigger tournaments. Basilashvili has never made it past the 4th Round of a Grand Slam and has had very little success at Masters 1000 tournaments. Having defended his points from winning Hamburg last year, Basilashvili must also win some matches in Beijing this year, or the 500 points he won there will drop off, leaving him vulnerable to a severe drop in the rankings.
Now the attention of the ATP Tour turns to Washington, possibly the biggest ATP 500 of the year. The singles draw includes the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Karen Khachanov, while in the doubles, Andy Murray makes his return to hard court tennis alongside his brother Jamie. Smaller events in Kitzbühel and Los Cabos are also taking place which will see the likes of Dominic Thiem and Fabio Fognini play. Juan Martin del Potro was due to play in Los Cabos but withdrew owing to a fractured patella that is seriously threatening his chances of ever returning to professional tennis.
Written by Emre Saridogan