TENNIS – THE stage is set for a star-studded Bahrain Open Tennis Challenger 2026, which is set to be played from today until Sunday.
The prestigious tournament is part of this year’s calendar on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Tour, and it is a Challenger 125 category event, offering $225,000 in total prize money – up from last year’s purse of $200,000.
Matches will be played at the Public Security Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
Twenty-three competitors – headlined by eight seeded stars who are all amongst the top 120-ranked players in the world – are entered in the 32-strong main draw through their ATP singles rankings. They are joined by three wild cards, and another six making it through to the tournament proper via qualifying.
The competition’s official draw was held last night, conducted by Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) vice-president and the tournament’s supreme committee chairman Shaikh Khalid bin Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, along with ATP official Valery Lutkov.
The series of world-class players are headed by world number 50 and number one seed Alexei Popyrin from Australia, world number 76 and second seed Mattia Bellucci from Italy, world number 77 and third seed Jacob Fearnley from the UK, and world number 84 and fourth seed Filip Misolic from Austria.
Qualification will be held today and tomorrow. The field that is vying for the six available places in the main draw includes Bahraini wild card Elyas Abdulnabi, who will be facing Lithuanian Edas Butvilas, the world number 277, in the opening stage today.
All are welcome to attend the tournament and enjoy the top-class tennis.
This year’s Bahrain Open Tennis Challenger is the event’s fifth edition. Last year’s occasion was won by Marton Fuscovics from Hungary. It was also named the 2025 ATP Challenger Tournament of the Year for the Challenger 125 category.
The 125 category is the second-highest on the ATP Challenger Tour.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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