MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reached the quarterfinals of the 2024 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Adelaide International tennis tournament, defeating her Czech opponent, Katerina Siniakova, on Wednesday.
In playing against Siniakova, Pavlyuchenkova requested a break after the second set, citing medical reasons. She eventually defeated the 27-year-old Siniakova with the final score of 2-6; 6-3; 6-2.
The Russian, who is playing in the WTA tournaments under a neutral status, is now set to face Jessica Pegula of the United States in the quarterfinals.
World No. 5 Pegula defeated earlier in the day her compatriot Bernarda Pera 4-6; 6-2; 6-3 in the match that lasted for two hours and 12 minutes.
Pavlyuchenkova, 32, is currently ranked 59th in the WTA Ratings and is the winner of 12 WTA tournaments. Her best result to date in the Grand Slam tournament was in 2021 when she reached the final of the French Open.
The Russian tennis player also won a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in mixed doubles (with teammate Andrey Rublev). She is also the winner of the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup.
The Adelaide International is a WTA 500 tennis tournament and has been played since 2020 on outdoor hard courts. This year, the tournament runs during January 8-13 and offers a purse of over $922,570 in prize money. Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic is the tournament’s reigning champion, but she is skipping this year’s competition.
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 of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from 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.