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Russia’s Medvedev reaches semis of 2025 ATP Halle Open in Germany

In the semifinals, he will face the winner of the quarterfinals match between Italian Flavio Cobolli and Alexander Zverev from Germany

BERLIN, June 20. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev is on to the semis at the 2025 Terra Wortmann Open tennis tournament in Germany after defeating Alex Michelsen from the United States on Friday.

In a match that lasted one hour 25 minutes, the 3rd-seeded Russian, who plays neutrally at international tournaments, defeated his unseeded 20-year-old US rival in straight sets 6-4; 6-3.

He will face in the semifinals Alexander Zverev (2nd-seed) from Germany, who defeated later in the day Italian Flavio Cobolli in straight sets 6-4; 7-6.

Speaking about his upcoming semifinals encounter against Medvedev, the German tennis star said: "I think it’s the guy I played the most in my career, so I’m looking forward to it."

"A lot of things happened in the past 18 months," the tournament’s official website quoted Zverev as saying. "Definitely he’s one of the toughest opponents in my career."

"It’s going to be a great match and I’m really looking forward to facing him," Zverev added.

Medvedev, 29, is currently the 11th-ranked player in the world, according to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He spent sixteen weeks as the number one player in the world in 2022.

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 Terra Wortmann Open tennis tournament, an ATP-500 event, is played on grass courts in the German city of Halle and will run from June 16-22, offering over 2.5 million euros (some $2.9 million) in prize money. Italy’s Jannik Sinner is the tournament's reigning champion in men's singles.

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.

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