NEW YORK, March 14. /TASS/. Russia’s top tennis player Daniil Medvedev is through to the semifinals of the 2025 Indian Wells Open after defeating French Arthur Fils in the quarterfinals.
In a thrilling match that lasted two hours and 25 minutes, Russia’s 5th-seeded Medvedev, who is playing at the tournament under a neutral status, outplayed the 20th-seeded Fils 6-4; 2-6; 7-6 (9-7) and is now set to battle for the place in the final against 12th-seed Holger Rune of Denmark.
"I lost a lot of tight matches this year where I could have won, should have won maybe," the ATP official website quoted the Russian player as saying after the match. "I have lost a lot of tight matches where it goes a little bit 50-50 and the more it goes like that, the more you can lose confidence in the tight moments."
"I was happy I was able to get over the line as he saved some match points and had a break lead in the third. I am just happy to win," he continued.
Heavy winds rippled through tennis courts during Medvedev-Fils match and commenting on the weather conditions Medvedev remarked: "The match was very tough due to the wind."
"It was tough to play tactically, technically. Whoever gets a bit more of a swirl of wind, they can frame it and it is a bit of luck. I knew that he had a break in the third and I knew I could break back and that is what I managed to do," he said.
In the other semifinals match Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz (2nd-seed) will play against 13th-seeded Jack Draper of Great Britain.
Speaking about his next opponent, 21-year-old Holger Rune, Medvedev said: "He can play well. He is a top player."
"Maybe a bit up and down still as he is a young player. But when he is in the quarters or semis he is playing well," the Russian tennis player added.
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 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.