MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev reached the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters ATP (the Association of Tennis Professionals) tournament in China on Wednesday.

Playing in the 4th round of the tournament earlier in the day against American Tommy Paul (seeded 12th), the 5th-seeded Rublev took one hour and 35 minutes to defeat his opponent in straight sets 7-5; 7-5.

Rublev, 25, is currently ranked 7th in the ATP World Rankings and has 14 ATP tournament titles to his name, two of those wins coming this year. He has also appeared in numerous Grand Slam tournaments, albeit never advancing beyond the quarterfinals.

Rublev took home the gold at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in mixed doubles (with teammate Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and also won the 2021 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team.

His opponent on Wednesday Tommy Paul is currently ranked 12th by the ATP having won only one ATP title. His best result in a Grand Slam was reaching the semifinals of the 2023 Australian Open.

The 2023 ATP Shanghai Masters tournament is played on outdoor hard courts at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China between October 4 and 15 and offers $8.8 million in prize money.

The tournament’s reigning champion is Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, who won the title back in 2019. The tournament has not been held since then due to anti-COVID restrictions.

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.