Points won by each set: [ 50-42, 27-33, 28-20 ]
Points won directly behind the serve:
37 % Basilashvili – 34 of 91
31 % Rublev – 34 of 109
Basilashvili was relatively unknown until Hamburg 2018 when he won the tournament as a qualifier ranked no. 81. One year later he defended the title already as No. 16. In the final he imposed his style on Rublev [78] which isn’t easy because the Russian belongs to the most offensive baseliners. The Georgian hit many winners in the 12th game of the 1st set after coming back from *1:3. He committed three double faults at 1-all in the 2nd set, but held before being broken four games later. The decisive break came as he led 2:1 in the 3rd set – he hit 4 winners to break at ‘love’ and won the last game also not dropping a point. “It was a good week for me. For the moment, my best week,” said Rublev. “Of course, it is always disappointing to lose in a final, but Nikoloz was playing really well and he deserves it. To win two years in a row here is amazing. It is really hard. It is really tough mentally and he did it. It is unbelievable.” A few weeks later they play against each other in the Cincinnati first round, and Rublev prevails 6-7, 6-4, 6-2.
Basilashvili’s route to his 3rd title:
1 Hugo Dellien 6-4, 6-3
2 Juan Ignacio Londero 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Q Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-3
S Alexander Zverev 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) – 2 m.p.
W Andrey Rublev 7-5, 4-6, 6-3