The first-round qualifying matches of the Almaty Open-2026 took place in Almaty. Kazakhstan's southern capital is hosting the ATP-250 men's tennis tournament with a prize fund of $1.07 million for the third time. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
On the first day of qualifying, three Kazakhstanis entered the fray. Beibit Zhukayev (503) and Amir Omarkhanov (618) lost to Australia's Adam Walton (98) – 1:6, 5:7 and Japan's Rei Sakamoto (137) – 2:6, 1:6, respectively. Only Alexander Shevchenko (111) narrowly overcame Estonia's Daniil Glinka (178) – 6:3, 6:7 (3:7), 7:5.
Omarkhanov and Zhukayev will play in the main draw of the doubles event. In Almaty, 29-year-old Alexander Bublik will also pair with 18-year-old Zangar Nurlanuly. If successful in their first matches, the Kazakh duos will meet in the quarterfinals.
Bublik, seeded third, will skip the first round of the singles event. In the second round, he will face either his national team teammate Timofey Skatov or Hungary's Fabian Marozsan.
On Sunday evening, after all qualifying matches are completed, Bublik and Mikhail Kukushkin, who along with Nurlanuly received a wild card in singles, will play an exhibition match at the Almaty Arena.
The ATP-250 Almaty Open men's tournament is the successor to the competitions held in Astana from 2020 to 2023. In 2022, the tournament received "500" status but then returned to its original level. It was first held in Almaty in 2024.
In various years, the tournament was won by Serbia's Novak Djokovic, Russia's Karen Khachanov, France's Adrian Mannarino, and others.
In 2025, the champion was Russia's Daniil Medvedev, who defeated France's Corentin Moutet in the final – 7:5, 4:6, 6:3. After finishing the Shanghai Masters, where he reached the semifinals, Medvedev will come to Almaty to defend his title.
In the 2025 doubles event, Theo Arribage and Albano Olivetti triumphed. In the decisive match, the French pair defeated Germany's Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner – 6:4, 7:6 (10:8).