By Tennis Now | Sunday, July 28, 2019
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Nikoloz Basilashvili banged out a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Andrey Rublev to capture his second straight Hamburg European Open championship—and score his 12th straight win in Hamburg.
Photo credit: German Open Tennis Championships am Hamburger Rothenbaum
Nikoloz Basilashvili brought a crunching forehand and competitive bite to extend his Hamburg reign.
Basilashvili banged out a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Andrey Rublev to capture his second straight Hamburg European Open championship—and score his 12th straight win in Hamburg.
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It is Basilashvili's third Tour-level title.
“When you have achievements, people want more and expect more,” said Basilashvili. “Everybody is writing to me, everybody is happy. I have a lot of support from home and it is a great feeling.”
A year ago, Basilashvili was an 81st-ranked qualifier when he dethroned defending champion Leonardo Mayer, 6-4, 0-6, 7-5, to win his first ATP title in Hamburg. He went on to defeat Juan Martin del Potro in the China Open final last fall.
Returning to Hamburg as the world No. 16, Basilashvili battled through three three-set victories to successfully defend his title.
Yesterday, the defending champion fought off two match points in the final set then battled back from 2-5 down in the tie break winning five straight points with a wild 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5) triumph over second-seeded Alexander Zverev.
Today, the fourth-seeded Basilashvili took charge in the final set breaking in two of the Russian's first three service games.
Down love-30 in the fifth game Basilashvili rode his forehand to barge through a deuce hold stretching his lead to 4-1.
Overall, Basilashvili hit 26 forehand winners beating Rublev for the second time in as many meetings following a 6-3, 6-4, victory on the hard courts of Doha earlier this year.
Basilashvili improved to 20-16 on the season.