ALMATY, October 23. /TASS/. Russia’s top-ranked tennis player Daniil Medvedev has reached the semifinals of the 2026 Almaty Open tennis tournament after defeating France’s Terence Atmane on Friday.

The Russian top seed, who is playing under neutral status at the tournament, defeated his unseeded French opponent in straight sets, 6:4, 6:4. In the semifinals, Medvedev is now set to take on the winner of the quarterfinal match between his compatriot Karen Khachanov (the No. 5 seed) and Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik (the No. 3 seed).

Medvedev, 30, spent sixteen weeks as the world’s No. 1 player in 2022. He is currently ranked No. 6 in the ATP Rankings. He previously won the 2021 US Open and holds 24 ATP titles. He won five of those 24 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup while representing the Russian national team.

The 2026 Almaty Open is an ATP 250 tournament held on indoor hard courts from October 19 to 25, with $1.075 million in prize money on offer. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 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 excluded athletes from Russia and Belarus from 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 scrapping all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.

On March 14, 2022, the ITF also reaffirmed its ban on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams competing in the 2022 Davis Cup and the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.