ROME, May 12. /TASS/. Russia’s Diana Shnaider stormed into the quarterfinals of the 2025 WTA (the Women’s Tennis Association) Italian Open with a straight-sets win over Belgium’s Elise Mertens on Monday.

It took the 13th-seeded Shnaider, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament in Italy, an hour and 16 minutes to take down her 25th-seeded opponent from Belgium. The final score was 6-2; 6-3. Shnaider will now do battle with 6th-seeded Jasmine Paolini from Italy, with a semifinals berth at stake.

Shnaider, 21, is currently ranked 11th in the WTA Rankings. She has four WTA titles to her name, winning all of them in the previous tennis season. Her best result in Grand Slams 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.

The 2025 Italian Open tennis tournament is a WTA 1000 event. Played on outdoor clay courts, the tourney takes place at Rome’s Foro Italico sports complex from May 6-18. The tournament’s reigning champion is Iga Swiatek of Poland.

 

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.