PARIS, May 30. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Lyudmila Samsonova reached Round 4 of the 2025 French Open after defeating her Ukrainian opponent Dayana Yastremskaya on Friday.

In the one-and-a-half hour match between the two ladies, the 19th-seeded Samsonova, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, breezed past her unseeded Ukrainian opponent in straight sets 6-2; 6-3.

Ukraine’s Yastremskaya, 25, holds three career WTA titles and is currently the 48th-ranked player in the world. In the second round, she took down 11th-seeded Russian Diana Shnaider in straight sets (7-5; 7-5).

Unseeded Chinese Qinwen Zheng, who beat Victoria Mboko of Canada earlier, awaits Samsonova in the next round.

Samsonova, 26, is currently ranked 18th 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.

According to the official statistics provided by the WTA website: "Zheng and Samsonova will both be bidding for a first Roland Garros quarterfinal berth; for Samsonova, a win would put her into the last eight of any major for the first time, while Zheng has previously made three Grand Slam quarterfinals."

The WTA statistics also point out that "Samsonova leads the head-to-head 3-2, but Zheng won their only previous meeting on clay 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of Palermo 2021 - her WTA main-draw debut match."

One of tennis’ four Grand Slam events, the 2025 French Open is taking place in Paris, nicknamed the "City of Light," between May 25 and June 8. The tournament is played on outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek from Poland are the tournament’s reigning champions on the men's and women's sides 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.