Kecmanovic and Basilashvili Meet Thursday in Chengdu

Miomir Kecmanovic flew straight from Nis, where he had just helped Serbia secure survival in the Davis Cup World Group, to Chengdu, a tournament where he had no idea who he would face in the first round. That uncertainty is over. Organizers of the ATP event in the Chinese city released the draw on Tuesday, and Kecmanovic was paired with Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili. Until now it was only known that a qualifier awaited him; now the identity of that qualifier, and the path he took to the main draw, is clear.

Basilashvili did not reach Chengdu directly through his ranking, the way Kecmanovic did, but through qualifying, and he did it convincingly. In the semifinal he beat China’s Hanlel Lu 6-2, 6-0, and on Tuesday he closed out the qualifying final against Italy’s Federico Cina 6-3, 6-2. Two sets without dropping a game in the qualifying final suggest the Georgian enters the match with Kecmanovic in good form, even though the rankings place him well behind the Serbian.

Kecmanovic is currently the world’s 60th ranked player, while Basilashvili sits at 145th, a gap of 85 places. Rankings are not everything, though, especially against a player who has just needed three sets to reach the main draw without dropping a match. The two have met only once before, in 2022 in Munich, when Kecmanovic won after a fight, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. Basilashvili put up strong resistance in the first set, lost only in the tiebreak, before fading in the second.

The match is scheduled for Thursday, around nine a.m. Central European time, on court one. Kecmanovic is the only Serbian in the singles field at a tournament with a prize pool of $1,210,115, which keeps him in focus for as long as he stays in the draw.

This is Kecmanovic’s first match after a grueling stretch in Nis, where Serbia secured its place in the Davis Cup World Group, so he arrives in Chengdu with little time to rest or adjust to the time difference. Basilashvili, on the other hand, comes in off two commanding qualifying wins, the kind of form that often carries a player straight into the first round of the main draw.

Basilashvili is more dangerous than his ranking suggests. The Georgian can hit hard off the forehand once he finds his rhythm, and he showed exactly that rhythm in his last two matches. Still, Kecmanovic enters Thursday’s match as the favorite, with the better ranking, a win over the same opponent in their only previous meeting, and the momentum of representing Serbia in Nis behind him. If he gets past Basilashvili, the second round in Chengdu brings a stronger and more familiar name from the main draw.