NEW YORK, August 28. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Lyudmila Samsonova has advanced past Wednesday’s opening round at the 2024 US Open, the year’s final Grand Slam event.

The 25-year-old Russian, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, defeated China’s Qiang Wang in straight sets 6-2; 7-5. In the next round, she will play against Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic.

Earlier in the day, 18th-seeded Russian Diana Shnaider also moved on from the opening round of the tournament in New York, breezing past Argentina’s unseeded Nadia Podoroska with a straight sets win of 6-0; 6-1. Shnaider is set to play against Clara Tauson from Denmark in the next round.

Russia’s 25-year-old Samsonova is currently ranked 16th in the Women’s Tennis Association Rankings and has five WTA titles under her belt. Playing on the Grand Slam circuit, she has gone as far as the fourth round (the 2021 Wimbledon and 2022 US Open). In 2021, she won the Billie Jean King Cup as part of the Russian national team.

Shnaider is 20 years old and she is currently ranked 18th in the WTA Rankings. Shnaider has three WTA titles to her name, winning all of them during the current season. Earlier in the year, she battled her way into Round 3 of the prestigious Wimbledon tournament. She also won a silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris playing with Russia’s Mirra Andreeva in the pairs competition.

The 2024 US Open is being held on outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York between August 26 and September 8. The tournament has $75 million in prize money up for grabs. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff of the United States are the tournament's defending 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.