SYDNEY, January 16. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Karen Khachanov defeated Canada’s Gabriel Diallo in Round 2 of the 2025 Australian Open on Wednesday.
In a match that lasted three hours and 15 minutes, the 19th-seeded Khachanov started out by trading sets with the unseeded Canadian, and then hit his stride in the following two sets, taking down his opponent 7-6 (7-4); 4-6; 6-3; 6-3.
The Russian, who is playing as a neutral at the tournament, will face another unseeded player in the next round, 20-year-old Alex Michelson of the United States, who later in the day ousted Australian wildcard James McCabe.
Khachanov, 28, who is currently 19th in the ATP (the Association of Tennis Professionals) Rankings, has seven career ATP titles. His best performance in the Grand Slam series was when he reached the semifinal rounds at the 2022 US Open and the 2023 Australian Open. The Russian player also took home the silver medal in men’s singles at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. He also won the 2021 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team.
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.