MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Russia’s top tennis player Daniil Medvedev has advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2024 ATP Indian Wells Open, where he will battle for a spot in the semifinals against Danish tennis star Holger Rune.
Late on Wednesday night, in Round 4 of the tournament, Medvedev defeated Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov. In a match that lasted for one hour and 16 minutes, the 4th-seeded Medvedev outplayed his 13th-seeded opponent from Bulgaria in straight sets 6-4; 6-4.
The Russian, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, is set to play in the quarterfinals against Denmark’s Holger Rune, who ousted on Thursday home favorite Taylor Fritz 2-6; 7-6; 6-3.
Speaking about the upcoming match against Medvedev, Rune said in his post-match interview that he plans to stay on the attack.
"I'm a player that's going to attack. I don't care who I play, I'm going to attack anyways," the official ATP website quoted Rune as saying after his win against Fritz.
"Against Daniil, it's a completely different match from today. I think the only similarity [Fritz and Medvedev] have is the big serve, otherwise they are two different players," the Danish player added.
Medvedev, 28, is currently fourth in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Rankings. In 2022, the top Russian racket spent sixteen weeks as the number one player in the world. He is the 2021 US Open Champion and has 20 ATP tournament titles under his belt. He won five of these 20 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.
The 2024 Indian Wells tournament is played on outdoor hard courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California, the United States and offers almost $9.5 million in prize money. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz is the reigning champion. Last year, Alcaraz beat Medvedev in the final.
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.