Aleksandre Kebadze

Nikoloz Basilashvili aims a comeback

Georgia is taking a deep breath as long as Nikoloz Basilashvili slowly tries to come back where he belongs. Former ATP Top 20 member has lost a lot in the rankings, but is crawling back to… Well, at least to Top 100.

The start of the season is encouraging for Nikoloz. He passed qualification at the season’s first Slam in Melbourne and got in a shape for the chapter. Nikoloz improved his rankings by jumping from outside of Top 200 straight into the heat.

At the Challenger in Oeiras 3, Basilashvili beat his old friend Radu Albot 6:3, 6:4, went one round further and stopped his journey in the quarterfinals. Another couple of places gained and we are coming closer to the first real test for Nikoloz: Montpellier 250.

Opening up with a couple of tough qualifying wins, Nikoloz got a first round showdown with another friend, this time Mikhail Kukushkin. After going down in the first set, Basilashvili evened the score by winining the second one 6:3 and after going ahead 5:0 in the decider, he has got a warm handshake at the net from his opponent: Kukushkin retired,

Another good game was in the menu, as Nikoloz marched through a solid French opposition: Arthur Rinderknech goes down 0:6, 6:7. Arthur, that time ranked number 61, lost a set without taking a single game for the first time this season.

Quarterfinals. The last stop was a beast from Russia, Andrey Rublev. A gun machine, who has had his share of battles with Basilashvili in the past. This time Nikoloz was not in shape. After going down 2:5, Basilashvili retired and Rublev went to the semifinals.

But all in all, it was good test for the former Top 20 player. Basilashvili is ranked is ranked 148. It is still a long distance before he catches some fire and goes back to where he belongs, but the start is solid. Hampered by injuries and some other issues, Nikoloz is ready to come back.