Kazakhstan's representation at the ATP-250 tennis tournament in Almaty has been reduced to a minimum. Mikhail Kukushkin lost today in the singles draw, while Beibit Zhukayev and Amir Omarhanov were defeated in doubles. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Kukushkin's match against Tsitsipas

Kukushkin's match against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas for a place in the quarterfinals did not go well from the start. After conceding five games in a row, Mikhail managed to avoid a bagel in the first set (1:6), but that was all.

Tsitsipas can rightly be considered a nightmare for Kazakh tennis. Before this meeting, the Greek had a 9:0 record in head-to-head matches against Kukushkin (5:0), Bublik (3:0) and Shevchenko (1:0). Now the score has become even more round – 10:0.

In the second set, Stefanos gave his opponent no chance to get back into the match. The Kazakhstani saved three match points, but still had to admit defeat. 1:6, 2:6 in 1 hour and 2 minutes.

Kukushkin's career

The crushing defeat of 38-year-old Kukushkin is all the more frustrating because he had announced in advance that Almaty Open 2026 would be the last tournament of his tennis career.

Mikhail, born in 1987 in Volgograd, has represented Kazakhstan since 2008. Over his career, Kukushkin won 16 Challengers and became the champion of the ATP-250 tournament in St. Petersburg in 2010. In addition, he reached the finals of ATP-250 tournaments three times, became the champion of the 2014 Asian Games and was a semifinalist at the 2020 Australian Open in doubles. In February 2019, Kukushkin was ranked 39th in the world.

Before the emergence of Alexander Bublik, Kukushkin was the No. 1 player for Kazakhstan in the Davis Cup. As part of the team, he reached the quarterfinals of the tournament five times.

Thus, the only representative of Kazakhstan at the Almaty tournament remains Bublik, who has not yet started in the singles draw. Alexander has already lost his doubles match with Zangar Nurlanuly.

Zhukayev and Omarhanov's doubles match

While Kukushkin was unsuccessfully trying to find the keys to Tsitsipas, in a parallel match the tandem of Zhukayev/Omarhanov was performing wonders. First with a plus sign. Our guys not only matched the first-seeded pair Lucas Miedler/Neil Oberleitner in everything, but after taking the set to a tie-break, they led 6:1 in it. Beibit and Amir needed to win just one more point to take the set.

From that moment on, the wonders changed polarity from plus to minus. After giving the Austrians seven (!) points in a row, the Kazakhstanis lost the tie-break – 6:8, and the set – 6:7.

The scenario repeated itself in the second set. The only difference was that in the tie-break Lucas and Neil immediately pulled ahead and did not relinquish their advantage. 7:6 (8:6), 7:6 (7:4) in 1 hour and 20 minutes.

About the tournament

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 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.