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Russian tennis player Potapova through to Round 3 of 2024 WTA Dubai Tennis Championship

Anastasia Potapova will now await the winner of the match between Nao Hibino of Japan and China’s Qinwen Zheng in the next round

DUBAI, February 20. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Anastasia Potapova defeated Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti on Tuesday to advance to Round 3 of the 2024 WTA Dubai Open Tennis tournament.

The unseeded Russian, who is playing at the tournament under a neutral status, took down her Italian opponent with a straight sets win of 6-0; 6-3 and will now await the winner of the match between Nao Hibino of Japan and China’s Qinwen Zheng in the next round.

Potapova, 22, is currently ranked 35th in the WTA (the Women’s Tennis Association) Rankings. She has two WTA titles under her belt. Her best career finish in Grand Slams was reaching Round 3 at the 2021 Australian Open, 2023 French Open and 2023 Wimbledon.

The 2024 Dubai Open Tennis tournament is a WTA-ranked 1000 competition on the organization’s calendar and takes place at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre in Dubai between February 18 and 24.

The tournament is played on outdoor hard courts and offers over $3.2 million in prize money. World No. 12 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic is the reigning champion.

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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