MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Russia’s top-ranked tennis player Daniil Medvedev knocked out on Friday his compatriot Karen Khachanov from the 2023 ATP Erste Bank Open tennis tournament in Austria’s Vienna.

The quarterfinals match between the Russian tennis players earlier in the day lasted for over two hours and 15 minutes and Medvedev outplayed his compatriot Khachanov 6-3; 3-6; 6-3.

"Tennis is a strong sport and we have strong opponents," the tournament’s official website quoted Medvedev as saying after his encounter with Khachanov.

"So hopefully I can get one more win at least or maybe more," Medvedev continued. "I have had an amazing season... But it's not finished yet, so I want to try to finish it even stronger."

Medvedev, the reigning champion of the tournament in Austria, is now set to face in the semifinals the winner of the match between Croatia’s unseeded Borna Gojo and 4th-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.

Khachanov said after the match against Medvedev on Friday: "It was a very close match, so of course mentally you have to be strong and it was a long one."

"But at the end, one break each set. So I'm happy that I managed to make two, and he only made one," the tournament’s official website quoted Khachanov as saying.

Medvedev, 27, is currently third in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Rankings List. In 2022, the top Russian racket was the number one-ranked tennis player in the world for 16 weeks. He is the 2021 US Open Champion and has 20 ATP tournament titles under his belt. He has won five of those 20 titles just this year. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.

Khachanov, 27, who is currently ranked 16th in the ATP Rankings, is the winner of five ATP titles. His best performance in the Grand Slam series was when he reached the semifinal rounds at the 2022 US Open and the 2023 Australian Open. Khachanov also clinched the silver medal in men’s singles at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The 2023 Erste Bank Open tennis tournament is part of the ATP 500 series and is played on indoor hard courts at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna between October 23 and 29 October. The tournament offers 2.409 million euros (some $2.6 million) in prize money up for grabs.

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.