TENNIS – KYRIAN Jacquet from France won the singles title last night in the Bahrain Open Tennis Challenger 2026, which came to an exciting close at the Police Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
Jacquet, ranked 128th in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), secured the crown after defeating seventh seed Luca Nardi from Italy, the world number 108, in a hugely exciting three-set final that lasted two-and-a-quarter hours.
The rivals split the first two sets and then in the third, Jacquet fought back from a game down thrice before taking a crucial break in the seventh to take a 4-3 lead. He then held serve in two of the ensuing three games to secure the match and the title with a final score of 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
Following yesterday’s final, both players were awarded their respective trophies by Prime Minister’s Court Minister and Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club High Committee chairman Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, and Bahrain Tennis Federation vice-president and the tournament’s supreme committee chairman Shaikh Khalid bin Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa alongside other officials.
With his victory, Jacquet joined Neil Oberleitner from Austria and N Sriram Balaji from India as champions in this year’s Bahrain Open Tennis Challenger. Oberleitner and Balaji had earlier clinched the doubles crown.
The tournament is part of this year’s calendar on the ATP Challenger Tour. It was a Challenger 125 category event that offered $225,000 in total prize money – up from last year’s purse of $200,000.
The Bahrain Open Tennis Challenger 2026 was 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.
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