LONDON, July 4. /TASS/. Russia’s Daria Kasatkina took down Yuriko Miyazaki from Great Britain on Thursday in the second round of the 2024 Wimbledon tennis tournament in London.
The Russian, who is playing at the tournament under a neutral status, didn’t drop a game to her British opponent, winning easily in two sets 6-0; 6-0. In the 3rd Round of the prestigious Grand Slam tournament, she will square off against Spain’s Paula Badosa, who later in the day defeated Brenda Fruhvirtova from the Czech Republic 6-4; 6-2.
Kasatkina, 27, is currently ranked 12th in the WTA Rankings and has seven WTA tournament titles to her name. To date, her best result in Grand Slams was in 2022 when she reached the semifinals of the French Open. She was also part of the Russian team that won the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup.
The Wimbledon tournament, the most prestigious out of the four Grand Slam tournaments, has been held annually in London since 1877. This year’s Wimbledon runs between July 1 and 14 and offers $63 million in prize money. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic are the reigning Wibledon 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 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.