An unknown Georgian player who was World Number 34 at the start of the Beijing ATP tournament and for much of 2018 was oscillating between 60-80th in the world overcame a sick looking, lumbering Del Potro in the final in straight sets causing a huge upset.
Admittedly Del Potro did not look at his sharpest clearly suffering from the flu and looking even slower than usual at the back of the court but for me he was still playing at maybe 75% of his best game and for Basilashvili to hit through him in straight sets is an astonishing result for the Georgian who has now won both of his first two ATP tour 500 titles in 2018.
I didn't get to see the final but I did see his semi final performance against Kyle Edmund. I knew Britain's Edmund would have a tough task on his hands having known about the Georgian for some time now and how hard he hit's the ball but given previous results for most of this year I didn't believe he would remain consistent enough to beat Edmund in the Semi's. Against Edmund Basilashvili produced brute force power from the back of the court that overwhelmed Edmund smothering his own aggressive game and clearly disrupting the British no.1's rhythm and confidence.
Against Del Potro, Basilashvili produced the same eye candy tennis and from the first game of the first set you could clearly see his uncompromising style was not going to suddenly change just because he was facing the World Number 4.
If you thought Edmund hit the ball hard then you need to check the Georgian out in the highlights at the end of this article. In fact just listen to the sound of ball as it leaves his racket, he hits the ball so hard you can hear the pop from the strings on his racket showing his sheer commitment to bullying opponents at the back of the court and making things happen for himself. It's high risk tennis and for his entire career up until the second half of this year it hasn't paid off. But since the summer his consistency has started to improve without compromising his approach.
He won on clay in Hamburg in July beating some quality opponents including world number 24 Pablo Carreno-Busta and Leonardo Mayer in the final who looked a dangerous prospect having defeated World Number 14 Diego Schwartzman and Gael Monfils along the way to the final.
In Beijing I actually think Del Potro would have preferred to face Kyle Edmund in the final because although Edmund also hits his forehand flat and with considerable speed, he does play the percentages more than Basilashvili which would have allowed Del Potro some breathing room to get his own forehand more into play during the final.
Having said that Del Potro even with his illness still threatened Basilashvili and put on a good show for the Chinese in the final demonstrating his true spirit to fight through his flu. The Tower almost snatched the second set himself when in the eighth game he conjured 3 break points, none of which he managed to take. That was to Basilashvili's credit who remained unflinching at the back of the court, even on break points. You could arguably say Basilashvili saved all his break points throughout the match with the way he played rather than Del Potro missing them.
Basilashvili's approach to tennis is certainly unique and he's probably the most aggressive player on the ATP circuit right now. The question is can his style remain consistent enough for him to break into the top 10 in the world? After this victory he is now at an all time high of 23rd in the world. One or two more titles over the next 3-4 months and we could see one of the most exciting players to watch from the back of the court rubbing shoulders with the top players come the ATP finals next year!
Watch: Basilashvili Stun Del Potro, Take Beijing Title in Straight Sets
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