NEW YORK, March 11. /TASS/. Russia’s Lyudmila Samsonova advanced to Round 4 of the 2025 Indian Wells Open tennis tournament after defeating compatriot Daria Kasatkina.

The 24th-seeded Samsonova prevailed over the 12th-seeded Kasatkina 2-6; 6-3; 6-2. Samsonova, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, will now face Italian Jasmine Paolini (6th-seed).

Samsonova, 26, is currently ranked 25th in the Women’s Tennis Association Rankings and has five career WTA titles. Playing on the Grand Slam circuit, she has made it as far as Round 4 (2021 Wimbledon and 2022, 2024 US Open). In 2021, she won the Billie Jean King Cup as part of the Russian national team.

Kasatkina, 27, is currently ranked 12th in the WTA Rankings and has eight WTA tournament titles to her name. To date, her best result in Grand Slams was in 2022 when she reached the semifinals of the French Open. She was also part of the Russian team that won the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup.

The 2025 Indian Wells tournament is played on outdoor hard courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California, the United States, between March 5 and 16 and offers almost $9.6 million and $8.9 million in prize money in men and women’s events correspondingly. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Poland’s Iga Swiatek are the reigning champions in men and women’s competitions 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.