Bengaluru, Jan 10 (IANS) Top seed Pedro Martinez trumped Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov in the Singles Final of the 10th Dafa News Bengaluru Open 2026, 7-6(5), 6-3 at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium today to claim the singles title and a cash prize of 33,650 USD.

Meanwhile, the duo of Colombian Nicolas Barrientos and American Benjamin Kittay defeated the French duo of Arthur Reymond and Luca Sanchez 7-6(9), 7-5, to claim the doubles title along with a 9,900 USD cash prize.

In the rain-interrupted final, Spain’s Martinez was close to breaking early in the third game of the first set, but Skatov showed strong defence and continued to keep games close with sustained service pressure. The Kazakh raised his level in the ninth game, winning long rallies with deep returns, but Martinez held firm and proceeded to put Skatov under pressure in the following game. Skatov saved a couple of set points in a long, drawn-out hold to push the set into a tie-break, where Martinez edged ahead and capitalised on a few unforced errors from Skatov to take the opening set.

The Spaniard carried that momentum into the second set, breaking Skatov in the very first game and continuing to find the lines and hit clean winners. Despite Skatov’s best efforts to stay in the contest, Martinez, a former top 40 player, maintained control and sealed the match with another break in the ninth game to claim the title and with it 125 ATP ranking points.

Meanwhile, Reymond and Sanchez started the Doubles Final strongly, breaking the serve of Barrientos and Kittay in the fourth game of the first set with sharp net play to take an early lead. But Barrientos and Kittay broke back immediately as Reymond found the net on key shots. Both pairs then held serve to force a tie-break, which stayed evenly poised for a long time before Barrientos and Kittay produced a series of outstanding returns to clinch the set.

The second set followed a similar script, with Barrientos and Kittay getting broken early and then breaking back, as neither side gave much away on serve. In the 12th game, Barrientos and Kittay inched close to the victory with strong smashes, but Reymond and Sanchez defended well, only for a crucial double fault from Reymond soon after to hand Barrientos and Kittay the decisive break and the doubles title.

–IANS

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