Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili claimed the fifth ATP Tour title of his career and the second in 2021 with a 6-4 7-6 (7-5) win over Jan-Lennard Struff after 86 minutes at the BMW Open in Munich. Basilashvili did not a set in five matches this week.
Basilashvili won eight of the first nine points and broke Struff in the first game. The match was suspended by rain, when Basilashvili was leading 4-2. The Georgian player never looked back and dropped just three service games to close out the first set after 35 minutes.
Struff did not convert one break point in the sixth game of the second set, which went on serve en route to the tie-break. Both players went on serve in the tie-break until the ninth point, when Basilashvili earned the decisive mini-break at 4-4 when Struff hit a backhand into the net. Basilashvili sealed the 14th match of his season on his second match point with a forehand winner. Basilashvili has already won a title on German clay in Hamburg in 2019. Earlier this year he beat Roberto Bautista Agut in Doha and beat Struff 7-5 4-6 6-3 in the quarter finals of the Sardegna Open in Cagliari.
“It wasn’t easy and I was super tight at the end. It was very difficult. It’s never easy to play against Jan. He is a very big fighter and serves well. I am super happy. It seems like German conditions suit me. This is my fifth ATP Tour title and i twill give me confidence for the upcoming season”, said Basilashvili.
Struff, who was playing in his ATP Tour final, was bidding to become the seventh different German champion at the ATP 250 in Munich after Jurgen Fassbender in 1974, Rolf Gehring in 1980, Michael Stich in 1990, Phillip Kohlschreiber in 2007, 2012 and 2016, Tommy Haas in 2013 and Alexander Zverev in 2017 and 2018.
Koolhof and Krawietz claim the doubles title
Top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Kevin Krawietz rallied from a set down to beat Sander Gillie and Joran Vliegen 4-6 6-4 10-5. Koolhof and Krawietz got the first break of the match in the first game of the opening set, but Gille and Vliegen broke straight back in the next game.
Koolhof and Krawietz earned three more break points in the third game but they were not able to convert them. Gille and Vliegen earned a break in the 10th game to claim the first set 6-4. Koolhof and Krawietz earned a break in the third game of the second set to take a 2-1 lead. The Dutch and German team broke again in the fifth game and held their next service games to claim the second set to force the final to the Match Tie-Break.
Koolhof and Krawietz claimed the first three points in the Match Tie-Break and raced out to a 9-2 lead. Gille and Vliegen fended off three consecutive match points, but Koolhof and Krawietz converted their fourth chance. Gille and Vliegen clinched the Singapore Open doubles title last February and dropped one set en route to the BMW Open in Munich.
