TENNIS – Neil Oberleitner from Austria and N Sriram Balaji from India were crowned doubles champions yesterday in the Bahrain Open Tennis Challenger 2026, currently being played at the Police Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
The fourth-seeded pairing defeated second seeds Vasil Kirkov from the US and Bart Stevens from the Netherlands 7-6 (1), 6-4 in their final to secure the crown.
Meanwhile, also yesterday, Kyrian Jacquet from France set up an exciting clash with seventh seed Luca Nardi from Italy in the singles final.
Jacquet battled back from a set down and outlasted second-seeded Italian Mattia Bellucci 6-7 (9), 6-4, 7-6 (6) in a marathon match that went nearly three hours, with the first and third sets both going over an hour’s duration.
Nardi, meanwhile, battled past Otto Virtanen from Finland 7-6 (6), 6-2 in their final four encounter last night.
Jacquet and Nardi are scheduled to battle for the title this evening at 6pm. 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.