Nikoloz Basilashvili narrowly missed the surprise at the ATP tournament in Vienna. The Georgian lost against two seeded South African Kevin Anderson 6:4, 6:7 (5) and 3:6.
“He has a real atomic run,” Dominic Thiem had said about Nikoloz Basilashvili in the run-up to the ATP-500 tournament in Vienna. For the Wimbledon finalist, Kevin Anderson, the first round game will be anything but a self runner.
And the Lichtenwörther should be right. Basilashvili broke Anderson in his second serve and even missed out on another break at 3-1.
But the 26-year-old did not allow himself to be put off by this and won the first round with 6:4. Only at 4:3 the Beijing champion had to tremble briefly, but the only break ball Anderson’s he fended off sovereign.
At the beginning of the second run the fans in the Wiener Stadthalle saw a slightly different picture. Anderson put more pressure on the gas pedal and immediately got a break point in his opponent’s first service game. However, the two-time Grand Slam finalist could not take this opportunity either.
After that, both players played their service games quite sovereign, before Basilashvili found at the score of 5:5 the possibility for the preliminary decision. The strong South African had to cross the second serve twice at break ball, but fended off both break chances and scored 6:5.
With a quick service game, the underdog equaled 6:6. In the tiebreak, the fans were offered world-class tennis. One winner followed the next and the pace of the game remained enormously high. So it was not surprising that the players changed sides at 3:3.
The Georgian also took full risks at critical scores and served an ace with the second serve at 5-5. However, Anderson was able to fend off the match ball and sent the match into the third set with two more point wins.
In this game Basilashvili had to defend a break possibility right at the beginning. Anderson equaled him in the fourth game of the decisive set and set the score at 2-2. Two games later, it was again the world number eight who attacked his opponent’s serve. And that with success: Anderson took Basilashvili’s serve down to 4:3.
This break brought the preliminary decision in favour of the two set right-hander. With another service breakthrough, Anderson was able to win the game after just over two hours. In the next round he will play Jürgen Melzer (AUT) or Milos Raonic (CAN).
The tableau in Vienna