TENNIS – MATTIA Bellucci from Italy barged into the singles semi-finals of the Bahrain Open Tennis Challenger 2026 last night after defeating Thiago Agustin Tirante from Argentina in the round of eight.
Bellucci, the tournament’s second seed and the 76th-ranked men’s player in the world, overcame Tirante, ranked 103rd by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), 6-4, 6-4 at the Police Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
Bellucci will next take on Kyrian Jacquet from France, ranked 128th in the world, today afternoon for a spot in the title match, which is set to be played tomorrow.
Jacquet advanced to the last four after upsetting British third seed Jacob Fearnley, 77th in the world, in their quarter-final clash yesterday 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-3.
The other semis fixture is between seventh-seeded Italian Luca Nardi, who is 108th in the world, and Otto Virtanen from Finland, ranked 126th by the ATP.
Nardi defeated 142nd-ranked Ugo Blanchet from France 6-4, 6-4 while Virtanen was a 6-4, 7-5 victor against world number 191 Stefano Travaglia of Italy.
Also yesterday, second seeds Vasil Kirkov from the US and Bart Stevens from the Netherlands advanced to the doubles final after beating third seeds Marcelo Demoliner from Brazil and Jean-Julien Rojer from the Netherlands 6-4, 6-2.
They will take on fourth seeds N Sriram Balaji from India and Neil Oberleitner from Austria for the crown. Balaji and Oberleitner upset doubles top seeds Sander Arends from the Netherlands and Romain Arneodo from Monaco 7-5, 7-5.
The doubled title-decider is scheduled for 1pm today at the same venue, to be followed by the singles semis from 3pm. All are welcome to attend.
The tournament is part of this year’s calendar on the ATP Challenger Tour. It is a Challenger 125 category event offering $225,000 in total prize money – up from last year’s purse of $200,000.
This year’s Bahrain Open Tennis Challenger is its fifth edition. Last year’s event was named the 2025 ATP Challenger Tournament of the Year for the Challenger 125 category, which is the second-highest on the ATP Challenger Tour.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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