SYDNEY, January 19. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Karen Khachanov on Friday battled his way into Round 4 of the 2024 Australian Open, which kicked off last Sunday, defeating Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic.

The match between Khachanov, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, and unseeded Machac lasted 3 hours 24 minutes and saw the 15th-seeded Russian win in four sets 6-4; 7-6 (7-4); 4-6; 7-6 (7-5).

In the next round Khachanov will play against Italy’s 4th-seeded Jannik Sinner, who earlier blasted past Argentina’s Sebastian Baez with straight sets win of 6-0; 6-1; 6-3.

Khachanov, 27, who is currently 15th in the ATP Rankings, has five career 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. The Russian player also clinched the silver medal in men’s singles at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. He also won the 2021 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team.

The 2024 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park on January 14-28 and has a purse of $57.8 mln in prize money up for grabs. The opening tournament of the annual Grand Slam series in Australia marks its 112th edition this year. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka are the reigning Australian Open champions in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.

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.