LONDON, June 29. /TASS/. Russia's Andrey Rublev fell to his compatriot Roman Safiullin in the opening round of this year's Wimbledon, which kicked off on Monday.

The unseeded Safiullin, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament just like all other Russian players, took down the tournament’s 12th-seed Rublev 6-4; 6-7 (6-8); 3-6; 6-3; 7-6 (14-12) in their match that lasted three hours and 58 minutes.

In the next round, Safiullin will face off against Botic van de Zandschulp from the Netherlands, who earlier in the day outplayed Aleksandar Kovacevic of the United States 6-3; 6-7; 6-4; 6-0.

Safiullin, 28, is currently 132nd in the ATP Rankings. He has never won an ATP title. In Grand Slams, the best he has done is reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2023.

Rublev, 28, is currently the 13th-ranked player in the world. He has won 17 career ATP singles tournament titles and four more in men’s doubles. Rublev has never made it past the quarterfinals in any Grand Slam.

The Russian tennis player took home the gold at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in mixed doubles (with teammate Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and also won the 2021 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team.

This year’s Wimbledon takes place between June 29 and July 12 and offers a total of 74.5 million Euros [over $75 million] in prize money. Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek of Poland 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.