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Russian tennis player Alexandrova through to Round 3 of 2024 Qatar Open

Yekaterina Alexandrova, 29, is currently ranked 19th in the WTA Rankings and has four WTA tournament titles under her belt

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Yekaterina Alexandrova defeated her countrywoman Erika Andreeva in Round 2 of the 2024 Qatar Open in Doha on Tuesday.

The 14th-seeded Alexandrova topped her opponent Andreeva, who entered the tournament as a qualifier, in three sets 6-0; 3-6; 6-1.

Alexandrova, 29, is currently ranked 19th in the WTA Rankings and has four WTA tournament titles under her belt. Her best career finish in Grand Slams was in 2023, when she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon. She is also the winner of the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup.

Andreeva, 19, is currently 106th in the WTA Rankings and has zero career WTA titles. She has never made it out of the first round of any Grand Slam event.

The 2024 Qatar Open Tennis tournament is the WTA-ranked 1000 competition on the organization’s calendar and it takes place at the International Tennis and Squash complex in Doha, Qatar, between February 11 and 17.

The tournament is played on outdoor hard courts and offers over $3.21 million in prize money. World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland is the reigning champion of the tournament in Doha.

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 canceling 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.

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