MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev has edged out on Friday Tallon Griekspoor from the Netherlands 3:6, 6:3, 6:4 in the quarterfinals match of the ATP (the Association of Tennis Professionals) tournament in Halle, Germany.
Rublev is now set to face Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in the semifinal round of the ATP competition in Germany after the Spaniard downed another Russia’s famous tennis star Daniil Medvedev earlier in the day 7:5; 7:6.
"I think to beat Daniil on this court, you have to play really good," the ATP website quoted Bautista Agut as saying during his on-court interview.
"I did not feel good some months this year, but I kept working hard," the Spanish tennis player said. "I know tennis is sometimes very difficult, but today it showed up that I've been working hard. It showed up that a lot of things, I have been working on and I'm very happy because I played very good tennis."
The 2023 Halle Open tennis tournament in Germany is being played on outdoor grass courts from June 19-25 and offers over 2.2 million euros ($2.4 million) in prize money. The only Russian to win the tournament was Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who did so three times: in 1997, 1998 and 2002.
Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also cancelling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.
On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.
However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.