BEIJING, September 30. /TASS/. Chinese tennis player Yunchaokete Bu defeated on Monday Russia’s top tennis player Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals match of the 2024 ATP China Open tournament.

In a match that lasted for one hour and 33 minutes, wildcard Yunchaokete Bu outplayed Russia’s 4th-seed Rublev in straight sets 7-5; 6-4 and he is now set to play in the semifinals against the world’s top player, Jannik Sinner of Italy.

China’s 22-year-old Yunchaokete is ranked 96th in the ATP World Rankings and he has never won any ATP tournament. He played once in the Grand Slam series tournaments, namely at the 2024 US Open, where he failed to clear the opening round.

Rublev, 26, is ranked 6th in the ATP World Rankings. He has won 16 ATP singles tournament titles and four more in men’s doubles. He has also appeared in numerous Grand Slam tournaments, albeit never advancing beyond the quarterfinals.

Rublev also took home the gold at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in mixed doubles (with teammate Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and also won the 2021 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team.

The 2024 ATP China Open is played on outdoor hard courts in Beijing between September 26 and October 2. The ATP-500 tennis tournament in the Chinese capital has $3.7 million in prize money up for grabs. Italy’s Jannik Sinner is the tournament’s reigning champion in men’s singles.

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.