LONDON, July 2. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Karen Khachanov cleared second round of the 2025 Wimbledon tennis tournament on Wednesday winning in a tough battle against Shintaro Mochizuki.

In a match that lasted 3 hours and 39 minutes, the 17th-seeded Khachanov, who is playing under a neutral status at the Grand Slam tournament in London, ruined the opening set and then had to go all of the five sets to topple Japanese qualifier Mochizuki with the final score of 1-6; 7-6 (9-7); 4-6; 6-3; 6-4. The Russian player will now face unseeded Nuno Borges from Portugal in the next round.

Khachanov, 29, is currently ranked 20th in the ATP (the Association of Tennis Professionals) Rankings, and has seven career ATP titles. His best performance in the Grand Slam series was when he reached the semifinal rounds at the 2022 US Open and the 2023 Australian Open.

The Russian player also took home the silver medal in men’s singles at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. He also won the 2021 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team.

This year’s Wimbledon takes place between June 30 and July 13 and offers a total of 50 million Euro [some $57.4 million] in prize money. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic are the reigning Wimbledon champions in men’s and women’s singles, 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.