Niki Poonacha and Pruchya Isaro win doubles title at Open Sopra Steria de Lyon 2026, Lyon, France; 10th Challenger doubles title for Poonacha
Niki Poonacha-Pruchya Isaro win doubles title at Open Sopra Steria de Lyon 2026 tennis
Niki Poonacha wins ATP Challenger doubles title in Lyon
The Indo-Thai pair defeated Skander Mansouri of Tunisia and Austria’s Maximilian Neuchrist in the final to win the ATP Challenger 100 tournament.
India’s Niki Poonacha and his partner Pruchya Isaro of Thailand won the doubles title at the Open Sopra Steria de Lyon 2026 tennis tournament in France on Saturday.
The tournament is part of the ATP Challenger circuit and is played on outdoor clay courts .
Competing in the final, the fourth-seeded pair of Poonacha and Isaro brushed aside Skander Mansouri of Tunisia and Austria’s Maximilian Neuchrist 6-0, 6-1 in a rather one-sided title clash.
Niki Poonacha and Pruchya Isaro took complete control from the outset, racing through the opening set without conceding a single game.
The Indo-Thai duo continued their dominance in the second set and allowed their opponents to hold serve in just one game - the third - before emphatically sealing the title.
Poonacha-Isaro won all four of their matches en route to the tennis title in straight sets.
This was Niki Poonacha’s 10th ATP Challenger doubles tennis title and the fourth of the year.
The 31-year-old Indian tennis player had won the Bengaluru Open 2 ATP Challenger 50 with Saketh Myneni whilst bagging the Menorca ATP Challenger 100 and Chennai ATP Challenger 50 crowns with Isaro earlier this year.
This was also the fourth ATP Challenger triumph for the Poonacha-Isaro duo, who claimed their first title as a pair at the Shanghai Challenger 100 last year.
The Indo-Thai pairing also made it to the finals at the Pune Challenger and Delhi Open - both ATP Challenger 75 events - together this year.
Poonacha-Isaro also earned a wildcard for the 2026 Australian Open through Asia-Pacific playoffs but were knocked out from the season-opening Grand Slam in the opening round.
The all-Indian pair of SD Prajwal Dev and Nitin Kumar Sinha were ousted in the opening round in Lyon.
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