Qualifier Basilashvili turns back the clock to stun Tsitsipas and reach Almaty final
Nikoloz Basilashvili, a 34-year-old qualifier ranked No. 128, held all 16 of his service games to stun Stefanos Tsitsipas (No. 7) 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 and reach the Almaty final. Injured again at the end of last year, the Georgian is back in the top 100, while Tsitsipas rises to No. 33, close to an Australian Open seeding.
Nikoloz Basilashvili, Almaty 2026 | © Andrey Udarstev
Few would have bet on seeing Nikoloz Basilashvili at this level again. The 34-year-old Georgian came into the season outside the top 100, injured at the end of last year, and has spent much of 2026 in qualifying draws. On Saturday, he beat No. 7 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 without dropping serve to reach the final of the Almaty ATP 250, his first ATP Tour final in more than four years.
Basilashvili will face top seed Daniil Medvedev or No. 3 seed Alexander Bublik in the final of the Almaty Open on Sunday. Medvedev beat him 6-2, 6-2 in their only meeting, in Vienna in 2022; he has never played Bublik at tour level.
It is a long way back for a player who was once among the most dangerous hitters on the tour. Basilashvili reached a career-high No. 16 in 2019 and the final of the Indian Wells Masters 1000 in 2021. His five titles include wins over Juan Martin del Potro, Alexander Zverev and Roger Federer. Since then his ranking has slid, and this season he has qualified for eight tour-level events, more than any other player. Ranked No. 128, he had to come through qualifying in Almaty too.
Unbroken against Tsitsipas
Basilashvili broke at the first opportunity in Tsitsipas’s second service game to lead 2-1 and closed out the set on his first set point. In the second, Tsitsipas saved a break point in the opening game and two more at 3-3. Serving at 4-5, Basilashvili fell to 0-40 and saved three set points. He led 4-2 in the tiebreak, but lost his serve twice as Tsitsipas took it 7-5.
“I got really tight in the second set. I had many chances, many break points. When you don’t use them, you get low, you lose confidence a little bit,” Basilashvili said on court. “I managed to stay very focused on my serve, and in the end I’m super happy that I executed my serve on a very high level. Then when I had chances on his serve, I used them.”
The Georgian did not let it get to him. Tsitsipas saved three break points to hold for 1-1 in the decider, but Basilashvili broke at 4-3 and served out the match to love. He won nine of the last ten points.
He finished with 35 winners to Tsitsipas’s 19, won 92 percent of the points behind his first serve and held all 16 of his service games, saving the only three break points he faced.
Back in the top 100
This final secures Basilashvili’s return to the top 100 for the first time since November last year. It follows a semifinal in Chengdu and a run through qualifying in Shanghai this autumn.
“For the last two years I was close to 100, then I got injured again at the end of last year,” he said. “I’m super happy that I managed to get back into the top 100, and I want to keep playing and enjoy it.”
It is his 10th ATP Tour final, his first since Doha in 2022 and his second indoors, after Memphis in 2017. He is only the second qualifier to reach the final in the event’s history, after Emil Ruusuvuori in 2020. On his way to the semifinals he beat Marin Cilic 6-2, 7-5, Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-2, 6-4 and Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-1, and he is the first Georgian to win a match at the tournament.
He now trails Tsitsipas 2-3 in their head-to-head; his other win was in the 2021 Indian Wells quarterfinals, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, on his way to his only Masters 1000 final.
Tsitsipas closes in on a Melbourne seeding
Tsitsipas, ranked No. 39, still leaves Almaty with what he came for. The 100 points for his semifinal will lift him to No. 33 on Monday, within touching distance of a seeding at the Australian Open, his stated goal for the end of the season. He had beaten Aleksandar Kovacevic 7-6 (9), 3-6, 6-3, Kazakh wildcard Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 6-2 and James Duckworth of Australia 6-3, 6-4.
Almaty ATP 250, latest RESULTS
• Quarterfinals
D. Medvedev [1] d. T. Atmane: 6-4, 6-4
A. Bublik [3] d. K. Khachanov [5]: 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5)
N. Basilashvili d. A. Mannarino: 6-3, 6-1
S. Tsitsipas [7] d. J. Duckworth: 6-3, 6-4
• Semifinals
D. Medvedev [1] vs A. Bublik [3]
N. Basilashvili vs S. Tsitsipas [7]: 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3
