NEW YORK, August 28. /TASS/. Russia’s Polina Yatsenko will make her debut at the 2026 US Open, which kicks off on Sunday, after she won the women’s qualifying final for this year’s final Grand Slam tournament.

In the final of the qualifying tournament, the Russian tennis player defeated Spain’s Andrea Lazaro Garcia in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.

Yatsenko, 22, currently ranks 160th in the WTA (Women Tennis Association) rankings. She has yet to win a WTA title.

The 2026 US Open will be held on outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York from August 30 to September 13. The tournament will award record $108 million in prize money. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus is the tournament’s reigning champion.

Russian tennis players are participating in international tournaments under neutral status, and the US Open is no exception.

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.