Kazakhstan's Grigoriy Lomakin got off to a winning start in the qualifying rounds of the Challenger tournament in Samsun, Turkey, reports infohub.kz.

Lomakin, ranked 909th in the ATP rankings, was seeded 12th in the Samsun Open-2026 qualifying, which carries a prize fund of $63,000. In the first round, he faced Bulgaria's Viktor Markov (world No. 1126). The two had never met in official tournaments. The Kazakh was considered the favorite but faced stiff resistance, ultimately prevailing in two sets 7:5, 7:5 after two hours on court.

In the final qualifying round on July 27, Lomakin will face the winner of the match between Konstantin Bittoun-Kuzmin (France, world No. 508, top seed in qualifying) and Kerem Yılmaz (Turkey, ATP rank 952). At the time of writing, the first set of that match had ended with the Turkish player cruising to a 6-2 victory. If Lomakin wins the qualifying final, he could meet fellow Kazakh Denis Yevseyev in the first round of the main draw.

Lomakin will also compete in doubles at the Samsun Open-2026 alongside Bittoun-Kuzmin (his potential opponent in the qualifying final), with the pair seeded third. In the first round, the Kazakh-French duo will face French pair Dan Added and Gabriel Debru. The match is scheduled for July 28, starting at 12:00 Astana time. Meanwhile, on July 27, Kazakhstan's Timofey Skatov, ranked 163rd in the ATP, will play in the singles of a similar Challenger event in San Marino.

Skatov was not seeded at the Internazionali di Tennis San Marino Open, which has a prize fund of around €204,000, so he starts his main-draw campaign on the first day against France's Thomas Faurel (world No. 314). The two have faced each other twice last year at different Challengers, with the Frenchman winning both times, giving Skatov a chance to avenge his 2025 defeats. Their third meeting will begin on July 27 after 13:00 Astana time. As for higher-level tournaments, only Anna Danilina will represent Kazakhstan next week.

Danilina is partnering Canada's Leylah Fernandez as the fourth seeds in the women's doubles at the WTA 500 Mubadala DC Open in Washington, which has a prize fund of over $1.6 million. In the first round, the Kazakh-Canadian pair will face Chinese duo Chan Yi Tang and Yifan Xu. The match is scheduled for July 28 at 19:00 Astana time.