SYDNEY, January 22. /TASS/. Russian tennis players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider on Wednesday advanced to the semifinals of the 2025 Australian Open in women’s doubles.
In a match that lasted a little over an hour, Andreeva and Shnaider, who play under a neutral status at the tournament, breezed past the duo of Kamilla Rakhimova from Russia and Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo in straight sets 6-3; 6-0.
In the semifinals round, the Russian pair will take the court against the pair of Katerina Siniakova from the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the United States.
In the other semifinal, the pair of Hsieh Su-wei from Taiwan and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko will clash against the team of Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe from New Zealand.
Andreeva, 17, is currently ranked 15th in the WTA (the Women's Tennis Association) Rankings. Her best result playing at the Grand Slam series was reaching the semifinals of the 2024 French Open. She has one WTA title so far in her career and also won a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in women's doubles. In 2023, the WTA named Andreeva the rookie of the year. She is 51st in the WTA Doubles Rankings.
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. Shanider is 36th in the WTA Doubles Rankings.
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. The pair of Hsieh Su-wei from Taiwan and Belgium’s Elise Mertens are the reigning Australian Open champions in women’s doubles.
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.