WASHINGTON, March 12. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev has advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2026 Indian Wells Open, where he will clash with the tournament’s reigning champion Jack Draper from Great Britain.
In the Round of 16, the 11th-seeded Medvedev, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, cruised past unseeded Alex Michelsen from the United States 6-2; 6-4.
Medvedev’s quarterfinal opponent was decided later in a grueling encounter between Novak Djokovic of Serbia (3rd-seed) and the 14th-seeded Draper.
The 24-year-old British player, who is competing in only his second ATP event since suffering an arm injury at the 2025 US Open, scored a comeback win against the Serb 4-6; 6-4; 7-6.
"I’m proud of the way I regrouped. I haven’t been playing on the Tour [in] a long time, so to put away guys who are top players, it’s something that comes with confidence," the tournament’s official website quoted Draper as saying after his win over Djokovic.
"It was a tough moment for me, but again, something I’m getting used to since coming back and I regrouped really well. That’s something I can be really proud of," the British player said without adding anything about his next match against Medvedev.
Draper and Medvedev have played against each other only once before - at the 2024 ATP Italian Open in Rome - with the Russian player winning in straight sets 7-5; 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 now a 23-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 Indian Wells tournament is an ATP 1,000 class event played on outdoor hard courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California, the United States, between March 4 and 15. It offers almost $9.4 million in prize money. Britain’s Jack Draper is the 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 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.
However, the Women Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.