Nikoloz Basilashvili the first male seed of Georgia, managed to win the third match in a row in Bergam Challenger (Prize money 42 500 EUR) and as a result went through the main draw.
20-year-old Basilashvili was seeded as No.2 at the tournament, he met the tournament in a weak physical condition but in spite of this, he justified the status of favorite. Nikoloz beat the hosts in the all three circles: in the first round he beat Emanuele Molina 6:7 (5:7), 6:0, 6:4 then Andrea Patraci – 7:5. 6:3, in the decisive fight he beat No.5 seed Marco Cecinato- 6:3, 3:6, 6:3.
In the main draw the opponent of Basilashvili will be found out later, but it is already know that one of them will be: Claudio Gras (Italy), Ivan Sergeev (Ukraine), Andreas Vinsiguera (Sweden), Jan-Lenard Struf (Germany). The last one is No.2 seed at the tournament, as for the first ranking, Latvian Ernest Gulbis No.131 seed of the world (No.21 seed of the world in February) is the #1 seed of the tournament.
As far as you know, Basilashvili is No.182 seed with 262 points in ATP ranking. He gained 3 points as a result of going through the main draw of Bergamo tournament. It must be mentioned that there were other three Georgians in ATP classification: 951 (955). Aleksandre Metreveli – 10 points; 1351 (1357). Giorgi Tsintsadze- 3; 1473 (1480). Giorgi Javakhishvili-2;
As for Georgian female tennis players, none of them compete at any international tournament this week, as far as you know Georgian national tennis team is preparing for Eilat tournament, where Georgian top seed Anna Tatishvili who turned 23 on February 23 and is No.59 seed of the world with 1045 points will not compete at Israeli tournament.