Del Potro has had a heck of a year, but unfortunately Basilashvili was too much for him at the China Open final. He beat Del Potro 6-4, 6-4, and made it look routine. This is the second time this year he has beaten the gentle giant. In this match, it looked like Basilashvili was the fourth ranked player in the world, not Del Potro. It was an impressive straight set performance. Basilashvili has now claimed two titles in 2018. The other tournament he claimed was the German Open. He beat another Argentinian in that match, Leonardo Mayer. However, it was a tough three set affair. Look for Basilashvili to keep improving and possibly break into the top 20 by the end of the year.

Del Potro, Basilashvili, and the rest of the top men will next head to the Shanghai Masters where there’s a 1,000 ATP points to play for. The race to London is heating up and Del Potro is on track to finish the year in the top four players in the world. He has never finished the year better than five in the world, so finishing in the top four, and possibly top three would be quite an accomplishment for a player that many considered done for as recent as one year ago. Let’s take a look at some of his accomplishments this year.

• Participated in six finals, winning two (Mexican Open and Indian Wells).
• Great results at the four Grand Slams, reaching the Semis at the French Open, Quarters at Wimbledon and Final at the US Open.
• Has seven wins against top 10 players this year, most notably beating Federer in the Indian Wells final, and Nadal in the Semifinal of the US Open.
• Has already topped $5,000,000 dollars in prize money for 2018, the most he’s ever earned.

That’s already quite a bit of damage done by Del Potro this year. He he’ll have more chances in the next couple of months to keep accumulating points, prize money and tournament wins. I would look for Del Potro to be well positioned going into the Australian Open next year.