The 19-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy will compete at next year’s Australian Open! The young American conquered the USTA Australian Open Wild Card Challenge following three notable Challenger results.
Basavareddy notched deep runs in Charlottesville, Knoxville and Champaign, losing two finals and adding another semi-final to leave his rivals behind and book a place in the main draw in Melbourne in two months. Nishesh played in the qualifying draw at this year’s US Open and will now debut on the notable scene.
The young American with an Indian origin traveled to Turin a year ago, practicing with the world’s best players and gathering experience. Basavareddy is the Stanford University star, finishing 12th in the ITA singles ranking this May and earning the Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year award.
A teenager turned his focus to professional events during the summer and showed his A-game!
Nishesh Basavareddy, Stanford University© Stream screenshot
Nishesh Basavareddy passes 250 rivals within six months!
Nishesh reached the semi-final at the Little Rock Challenger at the beginning of June and cracked the top-400. A month later, he went a step further in Bloomfield Hills, advancing into the title clash but missing the trophy. Gathering experience, the young gun competed at the US Open, falling to Hamad Medjedovic in the third qualifying round.
Basavareddy returned to Challengers and entered Columbus, Charleston and Tiburon. He made an impressive progress from the semi-final to the title, clinching his first Challenger trophy in Tiburon and gathering a boost. A couple of weeks later, Nishesh kicked off his USTA Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.
Nishesh Basavareddy, Stanford University© Stream screenshot
He suffered an early loss in Sioux Falls before raising his level. A teenager lost the Charlottesville final and fell in the semi-final in Knoxville. Basavareddy reached another title clash in Champaign this week, notching his fifth loss in six title encounters at this level. However, he did enough to earn the Australian Open invitation.
Nishesh played against Eliot Spizzirri in the semi-final and scored a dominant 6-1, 6-1 victory in 54 minutes. The younger American played well behind the first and second serve. He defended both break points and mounted the pressure on the other side. Basavareddy claimed 59% of the return points and turned them into five breaks.
An in-form young gun suffered another loss in the title clash, falling to the 20-year-old Ethan Quinnin straight sets but punching the Australian Open ticket. Nishesh is world no. 152 following his latest result, passing 1600 rivals on the ATP ranking list since the start of the season!