LONDON, July 4. /TASS/. Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova advanced on Friday to the fourth round of the 2025 Wimbledon tennis tournament after defeating former World’s No.1 Naomi Osaka of Japan.

In her Grand Slam match in London that lasted two hours and six minutes, the unseeded Pavlyuchenkova uncovered from her opening set defeat and managed to outplay her Japanese opponent Osaka with the final score of 3-6; 6-4; 6-4.

The Russian player is now set face in the next round of the 2025 Wimbledon unseeded UK’s Sonay Portal.

Pavlyuchenkova, 33, is the world’s 50th-ranked player, according to the WTA (Women Tennis Association). She has 12 career WTA titles. Her best result at Grand Slams was in 2021 when she reached the final of the French Open.

The Russian, who is playing internationally under a neutral status, also won a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in mixed doubles (with teammate Andrey Rublev), as well as the 2021 Billie Jean King 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.