Kazakhstan's Alexander Shevchenko (111) failed to pass the qualifying stage in the singles draw of the Almaty Open 2026 tennis tournament, which is being held in the southern capital for the third time. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
On the eve of the match, Shevchenko defeated Estonia's Daniil Glinka (178) – 6:3, 6:7 (3:7), 7:5. However, today he lost to Greece's Stefanos Sakellaridis (135) – 6:7 (4:7), 4:6.
Two other Kazakh tennis players also lost their qualifying matches yesterday. Beibit Zhukayev (503) lost to Australia's Adam Walton (98) – 1:6, 5:7. Amir Omarkhanov (618) was defeated by Japan's Rei Sakamoto (137) – 2:6, 1:6.
Sakamoto, having beaten Canada's Gabriel Diallo (121) today 2:6, 6:4, 6:4, also advanced to the main draw. Walton lost to Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili (124) – 4:6, 6:7 (4:7). He will continue competing in the doubles tournament.
Omarkhanov and Zhukayev will also play in the main draw of the doubles event, as will Alexander Bublik and Zangar Nurlanuly.
Bublik, seeded third, will skip the first round of the singles draw. In the second round, he will face either his national teammate Timofey Skatov or Hungary's Fabian Marozsan.
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 later returned to its original category. It was first held in Almaty in 2024.
In various years, the tournament has been 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.
On Saturday, Medvedev (6) lost in the semifinal of the Shanghai Masters to Spain's Rafael Jodar (13) – 3:6, 4:6. The Russian tennis player will soon arrive in Almaty to defend his title.
The prize fund of Almaty Open 2026 is $1.07 million.