DOHA, February 18. /TASS/. Russia’s top racquet Daniil Medvedev started his journey at the 2025 Qatar Open tennis tournament in Doha with a win over the tournament’s reigning champion Karen Khachanov.
In a match that lasted for two and a half hours, the 4th-seeded Medvedev managed to bounce back after losing the first set to fellow Russian Khachanov, eventually winning 4-6; 7-5; 6-3. He will now face Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in the next round.
The 25-year-old Belgian player handed a straight-sets defeat in the tournament’s opening round to two-time champion Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain
According to the ATP provided statistics, if Medvedev manages to overcome the Spanish player in the next round he "will become just the second man born in 1990 or later to capture 300 hard-court wins (299-107; Dimitrov - 312).
Medvedev, 29, is currently sixth in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Rankings. In 2022, the top Russian racquet spent sixteen weeks as the number one player in the world. He is the 2021 US Open Champion and has 20 ATP tournament titles under his belt. He won five of these 20 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.
The 2025 Qatar Open Tennis tournament is a WTA-ranked 500 competition on the organization’s calendar and it takes place at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash complex in Doha, Qatar, between February 17 and 22. The tournament is played on outdoor hard courts and Russia’s Karen Khachanov is the reigning champion.
Khachanov, 28, who is currently 21st 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.
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.