Pics: Young American Basavareddy outlasts Gojo in the Brisbane heat

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BRISBANE, Australia – In a sport increasingly populated by tall, strong, big units, young American Nishesh Basavareddy – all 5-foot-11 and 154 pounds of him – might actually have been at an advantage Saturday in Brisbane.

The heat and humidity were brutal; a lot of players succumbed. Apparently it wasn’t hot enough to stop play (we don’t know why), so the players just had to soldier on.

And in a match against the more experienced Borna Gojo, 26 but far burlier at 6-foot-5 and about 200 pounds – Basavareddy prevailed.

Here’s what it looked like; there was a … lot going on.

It was 2 1/2 hours, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 for the young American who advances to a final round of qualifying against Lucas Pouille of France on Sunday.

This was a debut match on the ATP tour for Basavareddy, who leaped up in the rankings on the U.S. Challenger circuit in the fall, enough to earn the reciprocal wild card into the main draw of the Australian Open.

But other than a pair of wins in qualifying at the US Open last August (against Ugo Blanchet and Alex Bolt), he had not yet played at the ATP Tour level.

So it was a pretty big deal for th ekid.

His opponent, the strapping Gojo, is in on a protected ranking of No. 106 and reached as high as No. 72 just over a year ago.

He was out from Auckland last January until he returned on that same American Chalenger circuit in early August.

So he had a lot more experience. But the experience didn’t help in the heat.

Gojo more or less was handling things, but the conditions were really starting to get to him and at 6-4, 4-4, it was like he hit a wall.

He knew, most likely, that he really needed to wrap it up in two sets or risk going out. And at one point he was just two points away from doing that.

But once he lost the second set in a tiebreak, the situation was dire.

Basavareddy, acting far more like the experienced player of the two, barely celebrated after taking that first ATP-level set. He immediately headed off to the locker room for a bathroom break – and also asked for the trainer to visit while he was there.

Gojo was too out of it to see what was happening. Or else he was punishing himself for not finishing the match off.

So while Basavareddy was off court – for nearly 10 minutes, although it felt longer – Gojo just sat there and roasted.

The Croat doesn’t always have a huge compete level, so you half-expected that third and deciding set to end in a flash.

But he did battle; in the end, he was broken at 4-5 in the fifth to give Basavareddy the win.

There were some retirements on Saturday, and some real struggles on court – even on the practice court.

So, props to Basavareddy for handling the entire situation like a pro, even if he’s barely a pro at this stage. He can’t have been feeling great himself. But he sure felt a lot better than Gojo did. And he followed the first rule of competitive tennis: hang in there, keep it close, and see what happens.

His poise was impressive.

We’ll see what he can do on Sunday against Lucas Pouille, a former top 10 player.