TASS, March 15. Russia’s top tennis player Daniil Medvedev is set to face off against Tommy Paul of the United States in the semifinals of the 2024 ATP Indian Wells Open after advancing past the quarterfinals on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Medvedev, who is playing under a neutral status, cleared the quarterfinals round of the tournament in California. In a match that lasted a little under two hours, the 4th-seeded Medvedev defeated his 7th-seeded opponent Holger Rune of Denmark in straight sets 7-5; 6-4.
"Tough conditions. Especially in the first set, it was very, very windy," the ATP official website quoted Medvedev as saying after the match. "Tough to play beautiful, let's call it this way. The only thing that you have to try and do is to win another point..."
"I'm happy that in the end I managed to just be a tiny bit more solid, some good serves in important moments. Happy to be through in the next round," Medvedev said.
As for Medvedev's semifinals opponent, it took more than two hours for the 17th-seeded home favorite Paul to defeat the 9th-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway in their quarterfinals quarrel 6-2; 1-6; 6-3.
Speaking about his upcoming semifinals encounter against World No. 12 Paul, Medvedev said: "Tommy is really strong."
"He's playing good so that I know if I want to try to win, I need to be at my absolute best and that's what I'm going to try to do," the Russian 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.