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Russia’s Rublev through to Round 3 of 2025 Madrid Open after French Monfils withdraws

The 2025 Madrid Open is a clay-court tournament played at the Park Manzanares in the Spanish capital between April 22 and May 4

MADRID, April 25. /TASS/. Russia’s top tennis player Andrey Rublev glided into Round 3 of the 2025 Madrid Open tournament on Friday after his French opponent Gael Monfils decided to withdraw citing health problems.

Russia’s 7th-seed Rublev, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, is now set to play in the next round against Alexander Bublik from Kazakhstan.

Rublev, 27, is currently ranked 8th in the ATP Rankings list. He has won 17 career ATP singles tournament titles and four more in men’s doubles. Rublev has also appeared in numerous Grand Slam tournaments, albeit never advancing beyond the quarterfinals.

He took home the gold at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in mixed doubles (with teammate Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and also won the 2021 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team.

The 2025 Madrid Open is a clay-court tournament played at the Park Manzanares in the Spanish capital between April 22 and May 4. Russia’s Andrey Rublev and Poland’s Iga Swiatek are the men's and women's reigning tournament champions, 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.

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