Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin (389) was the first of the country's tennis players to begin his campaign in the main draw of Almaty Open-2026. In the round of 32, the Volgograd native, who has represented Kazakhstan since 2008, defeated Greek qualifier Stefanos Sakellaridis (133) 7:6 (7:4), 7:6 (7:3). This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

The Greek had beaten Kazakhstan's Alexander Shevchenko (108) in the qualifying match for a place in the main draw – 7:6 (7:4), 6:4. Kukushkin, who received a wild card from the organizers, was exempt from qualifying. And he "avenged" Alexander the Second.

In the first set, Mikhail responded to Stefanos's break in the fifth game with the same in the eighth game. After that, the opponents held their serves, and in the tiebreak luck smiled on the home player – 7:4.

In the second game of the second set, Kukushkin again took his opponent's serve. But Sakellaridis immediately made a counter-break – 2:2. The 22-year-old Greek, serving powerfully, deliberately prolonged the rallies, constantly changing the direction of his shots. He forced his opponent to move a lot in the hope that the 38-year-old rival would run out of energy. The tactic did not pay off. Kukushkin had plenty of gunpowder left in his powder flask.

After the tennis players exchanged breaks once more, the set again rolled to a tiebreak. The Kazakh immediately took a 3:0 lead and confidently brought the game, set and match to victory. 7:6 (7:4), 7:6 (7:3) in 2 hours 12 minutes. Aces – 1:9, double faults – 1:3, total points won – 90:85.

In the match for a quarterfinal place, Kukushkin will face either another Greek, Stefanos Tsitsipas (39), or American Alexander Kovacevic (82).

The ATP-250 men's tournament Almaty Open 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 different 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 Daniil Medvedev, who defeated Corentin Moutet of France in the final – 7:5, 4:6, 6:3. The Russian is seeded first this year.

The prize fund of Almaty Open-2026 is $1.07 million.