Nikoloz Basilashvili is one win away from becoming the first player from Georgia to win an ATP Tour title after he sailed into the final of the Memphis Open yesterday.
 The 24-year-old survived a tight first set against Mikhail Kukushkin, before racing through the second set to complete a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory over his Kazakh opponent. Basilashvili will play Ryan Harrison in the final, after the American overcame compatriot Donald Young 6-4, 6-4 in the other semi-final.
 “The more matches you play, the more you get used to playing in these important moments,” said Basilashvili, who is ranked a career-high 67th after making it to the semi-finals at the Sofia Open last week. “I have really good energy at the moment and am enjoying being on the court, so I hope to keep this level going.”
 Basilashvili played aggressively against Kukushkin, but converted only one of his 10 break points in a marathon first set, which lasted nearly 90 minutes and hung in the balance deep into the tiebreak. He took just 22 minutes to close out the second set.
 The player from Tbilisi has not dropped a set all week, going from strength to strength after beating top seed Ivo Karlovic in the round of 16. Basilashvili should be more rested for the final than Harrison, who after beating Young in the evening semi had to go straight back out for a doubles semi-final.
 Harrison, ranked 62nd in the world, will be competing in his first final, after losing his seven previous semi-final appearances. “I hit some obstacles in my career where I really wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be able to do this again, so I’m really happy,” said Harrison, 24, who also has not dropped a set all week. The two finalists will meet for the first time.
 Basilashvili defeated world number eight Dominic Thiem last week en route to the semi-finals in Sofia, where he lost to eventual champion Grigor Dimitrov. The Georgian’s only prior ATP final came in last July’s Austrian Open, where he lost to Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi.

Tsonga faces Goffin in Dutch final
In Rotterdam, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga rained down 10 aces, finishing off Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-4 in 72 minutes to power into a second Rotterdam World Tennis final and record his 400th career win. The French sixth seed will compete for his first title at the Ahoy stadium after finishing runner-up six years ago. He next faces Belgian third seed David Goffin, who defeated French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-1, 6-3 in 74 minutes, breaking four times.
 Goffin will be playing his second final in as many weeks after losing to Grigor Dimitrov in the title match in Sofia. The Belgian had already avenged that defeat by seeing off Dimitrov in the Rotterdam quarter-finals on Friday. Goffin had not won a main draw match in Rotterdam before this breakthrough week and will reach a top 10 ranking for the first time after making the final.
 “It was a good match, I played pretty solid on my serve, which is good for my game. When I’m serving like this I’m able to create a bit more on the return and be a bit more offensive,” Tsonga said.
 Tsonga was unstoppable against Berdych, the 2014 champion and 2015 finalist playing his fourth semi-final at the Dutch event. He came good in his second semi-final of the season as he bids for a first trophy since winning at home in Metz in 2015.
 Berdych came to the court with an 8-3 lead in the series, including wins in their last two meetings, one a Doha quarter-final last month. Tsonga finished with two breaks of the 13th-ranked Czech while never facing a break point in what quickly became one-way traffic. “My only goal is to win the next match, this would be important for me,” 2011 runner-up Tsonga said.

Nishikori battles into Buenos Aires final
In Buenos Aires, Japanese top seed Kei Nishikori reached his second final of 2017 with a gruelling 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq at the clay-court tournament.
 The world number five Nishikori needed two hours 45 minutes to see off wild card Berlocq, the 34-year-old world number 77 to set-up a title showdown against Ukraine’s
Aleksandr Dolgopolov, who beat Spanish fourth seed Pablo Carreno-Busta 7-5, 6-2.
 Nishikori made the final on hard court in Brisbane in January but was beaten by Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in three sets. The 27-year-old will be chasing his 12th career title and third on clay after triumphs in Barcelona in 2014 and 2015.
 Dolgopolov, 28, has not dropped a set all week to reach his seventh ATP final. He will be contesting his first title match in three years, since falling to Rafael Nadal in Rio de Janeiro in 2014.
“I feel very good,” said world number 66 Dolgopolov. “It’s really nice to be in a final again because because I had a couple of tough years.” Nishikori will square off against Dolgopolov for the sixth time, having won all 10 sets played.
China complete 5-0 sweep over Taiwan
In Taipei, Li Zhe and Zhang Zhizhen won singles rubbers to complete a 5-0 triumph for China over Taiwan in their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I tie. Li beat Lee Kuan-yi 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) while Zhang defeated Peng Hsien-yin (TPE) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7/4) in Kaohsiung city, although China had already sealed victory following Saturday’s doubles rubber.
 Chinese pair Wu Di and Zhang Zhizhen took three straight sets from Jason Jung and Peng Hsien-yin 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-3, putting China through to face Kazakhstan in a promotion play-off in early April.
 Taiwan has not beaten China in almost a decade, having lost the last three times the cross-strait opponents faced off in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Taiwan’s Jung is ranked 168th, the highest among both teams, but had conceded his Friday’s singles match due to a leg injury.