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Russia’s Potapova breezes past Turkey’s Sonmez to reach 4th round of 2025 WTA China Open

Anastasia Potapova, 24, is a three-time WTA champion and is the 59th-ranked player in the world

BEIJING, September 29. /TASS/. Russia’s Anastasia Potapova has cleared the third round of the 2025 China Open tennis tournament, which kicked off last Wednesday in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

The unseeded Russian, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, routed her Turkish opponent Zeynep Sonmez in straight sets: 6-3; 7-5. Potapova is now set to play in the fourth round of the tournament against the winner of the duel between the 26th-seeded Linda Noskkova from the Czech Republic and the 7th-seeded Zheng Qinwen of China.

Potapova, 24, is a three-time WTA champion and is the 59th-ranked player in the world. Her best showing at Grand Slams was at the 2024 French Open, where she reached the quarterfinals.

The 2025 China Open is a WTA 1,000 event. Its 24th edition is played on outdoor courts at the National Tennis Center in Beijing between September 24 and October 5. This year’s tourney offers over $8.9 million in prize money. Coco Gauff from the United States is the tournament’s reigning champion.

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 moved to exclude 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 participating in the 2022 Davis Cup and the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.

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