The £85,000 Electra Israel Open in Ra’anana, the most expensive tennis tournament held in Israel in more than 20 years, was won by Nikolov Basilashvili.

The unseeded Georgian beat second seed, Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

The ATP Challenger tournament was deemed a success by the organisers, even though all the Israeli players were eliminated in the early rounds,
reducing crowd attendance.

Fifth seed Dudi Sela retired after feeling ill in the first round when playing Amir Weintraub in an Israeli derby and Weintraub himself, still not fully fit after a groin injury, lost in the second round to Germany’s Michael Berrer.

The only bright spot in the tournament for Israel was the shock victory of Tal Goldengoren over
Romania’s Adrian Ungur.

But Goldengoren went out in the second round to Lacko.