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15 Jan, 10:03

Russia’s Shnaider through to Round 3 of 2025 Australian Open with straight sets win

The Russian, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, will play in the next round against the winner of the match between Harriet Dart of the United Kingdom and 18th-seed Donna Vekic from Croatia

SYDNEY, January 15. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Diana Shnaider cleared Round 2 of the 2025 Australian Open tournament on Wednesday with straight sets win over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.

In a match that lasted for an hour and a half 12th-seed Shnaider prevailed over her unseeded Australian opponent 6-4; 7-5.

The Russian, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, will play in the next round against the winner of the match between Harriet Dart of the United Kingdom and 18th-seed Donna Vekic from Croatia.

Shnaider is 20 years old, and is currently ranked 13th in the Women Tennis Association (WTA) Rankings. Shnaider has four WTA titles to her name, winning all of them during the last year’s season. Her best result playing at the Grand Slam series tournaments was advancing to Round 4 of the 2024 US Open. Playing at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, she won a silver medal in women’s doubles with partner Mirra Andreeva.

The 2025 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park on January 12-26 and has a purse of $59.7 million in prize money up for grabs. The season’s first Grand Slam, this year marks the 113th edition of the tournament. Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka are the reigning Australian Open 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 on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.

However, the Women 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.

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