Basilashvili Reaches First Final

Nikoloz Basilashvili became the first player from Georgia to reach an ATP World Tour singles final after making quick work of Serbian Dusan Lajovic at the Generali Open – Kitzbühel on Friday.

“I’m very happy [and] very proud of myself. I worked very hard for this,” said Basilashvili, whose banner season includes Challenger titles from Guangzhou (d. Lacko) and Heilbronn (d. Struff).

“I gave 100% today. It was a very important match. I was a little bit nervous but I think I played great.”

The unseeded 24-year-old swept past his 26-year-old opponent 6-3, 6-1 in 64 minutes. Basilashvili won 73 per cent of first-serve points (30 of 41) and broke Lajovic four times en route to victory.

Lajovic was bidding for his first final of 2016, having also fallen at this same stage in Sao Paulo (l. to Cuevas).

Basilashvili awaits the winner between fourth seed Paolo Lorenzi of Italy and Austria’s Gerald Melzer.