Winners crowned in President’s Cup Finals

The international tournaments held as part of the traditional President’s Cup have concluded at the Beeline Arena National Tennis Center in Astana.

The competitions determined the champions of the men’s ATP Challenger 50 event in singles and doubles, as well as the women’s World Tennis Tour W15 tournament.

Kazakhstan’s Asylzhan Arystanbekova claimed the women’s singles title after defeating Japan’s Haruna Arakawa in the final. It was Arystanbekova’s second consecutive W15 title in Astana. A week earlier, the Kazakhstani player had won the second week of the international Asu Open tournament.

«I’m very happy to have won two tournaments in a row. It wasn’t easy, especially because I was playing with an injury. It was difficult, but I’m glad I was able to push through and finish both weeks with titles. For me, there are no easy opponents. You have to prepare differently for each player because everyone has their own style of tennis. These two weeks have been challenging both physically and mentally. Right now, the most important thing is to recover because there is a lot of accumulated fatigue. I will train in Astana for another two weeks, and after that, most likely, our whole team — together with our coach, Inkar Dyusebay and Aruzhan Sagandykova — will travel to China for tournaments,» Arystanbekova said.

In the men’s doubles event at the ATP Challenger 50, Kazakhstan was represented in the final by Grigoriy Lomakin, who partnered Petr Bar Biryukov. They faced the Japanese duo of Taisei Ichikawa / Masamichi Imamura in the title match. The Japanese pair emerged victorious, with Lomakin and Bar Biryukov finishing the tournament as runners-up.

Another Japanese player, Hayato Matsuoka, captured the men’s singles title. In the final, he produced a comeback victory over Tunisia’s Aziz Dougaz. After losing the opening set 0-6, Matsuoka turned the match around to take the next two sets 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).

«Aziz is a very strong opponent with powerful shots. In the semifinal, he showed great fighting spirit, saving several match points and coming back to win. Today, he also fought for every point, so the final was very challenging. This was my first time in Kazakhstan and Astana, and I was very impressed. I really liked the organization of the tournament, the city and the atmosphere. I truly enjoyed every day here and the opportunity to compete on these courts,» Matsuoka said after his victory.

The President’s Cup brought to a close a three-week series of international tennis tournaments in Astana. Kazakhstani players delivered strong performances on home courts, with Asylzhan Arystanbekova capturing back-to-back W15 titles and Grigoriy Lomakin reaching the ATP Challenger 50 doubles final. The President’s Cup once again brought together players from different countries in Kazakhstan’s capital while providing local athletes with valuable international match experience and an opportunity to earn ranking points.