NEW YORK, August 29. /TASS/. Russia’s Aslan Karatsev has cleared the opening round of the 2023 US Open tennis tournament, which kicked off in New York on Monday.

Unseeded Karatsev defeated the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka, who was is also unseeded, in the first round of the Grand Slam tournament in the United States with a straight sets win of 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

Karatsev is now set to face off in the second round against Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena, who earlier had ousted 4th-seed Holger Rune of Denmark from the tournament.

The 29-year-old Russian is the winner of three Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournaments and his best result playing at the Grand Slam tournaments was reaching the semifinal round of the 2021 Australian Open.

Karatsev, who is currently ranked 77th in the ATP Rankings, is also the silver medal winner of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics in mixed doubles, where he played in a pair with Russia’s Yelena Vesnina. Playing for the Russian national team, he is the winner of the Davis Cup and the ATP Cup.

The 2023 US Open is being held on outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York between August 28 and September 10. The tournament has $65 mln in prize money up for grabs. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Poland’s Iga Swiatek are the defending champions at the 2023 US Open in the men’s and women's singles, respectively.

Tennis players from Russia and Belarus are participating in the tournament under a neutral status due to the current sanctions regime.

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.