DUBAI, February 25. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev has advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2026 Dubai Tennis Championships after he defeated on Wednesday Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland.

In a match that lasted one hour and 13 minutes, the 3rd-seeded Medvedev, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, outplayed his wildcard Swiss opponent in straight sets 6-2; 6-3.

According to ATP official website, today’s on-court encounter with Medvedev marked the final match in the professional tennis career of 40-year-old Warwinka.

"I came here for the first time more than 15 years ago and I always feel really welcome," the ATP quoted the Swiss player, who triumphed at the ATP 500 event in 2016, as saying after the match.

"It was amazing for me to have one last chance, one last opportunity, to play here. I will always have amazing memories from here [at] the tournament," Warwinka noted.

Russia’s Medvedev is set to play in the next round against unseeded American Jenson Brooksby, who reached the quarterfinals after defeating another Russian player, 7th-seed Karen Khachanov, 7-6; 6-4.

Medvedev, 30, spent sixteen weeks as the world’s number one player in 2022. Currently, he’s the 11th-ranked player in the world. He previously won the 2021 US Open and is a 22-time ATP champion. He won five of those 22 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.

The 2026 Dubai Tennis Championships is the ATP-500 event. It is played between February 23 and 28 on outdoor hard courts at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and offers $3.3 million in prize money. Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece is the tournament’s reigning champion.

Russian and Belarusian 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.