TOKYO, October 28. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Diana Shnaider reached the quarterfinals round of the 2026 WTA Toray Pan Pacific Open tournament after defeating Alexandra Sasnovich from Belarus on Wednesday.

In the match that lasted 2 hours and 31 minutes, the 3rd-seeded Russian, who is playing under a neutral status at international tennis tournaments, battled to defeat her Belarusian opponent 6-3; 5-7; 6-3.

The Russian tennis player is now set to face off in the quarterfinals against Alexandra Eala from the Philippines, who outplayed in the previous round of the tournament in Tokyo Talia Gibson from Australia 4-6; 6-2; 6-0.

Shnaider, 22, is currently 13th in the WTA Rankings. She has won five WTA titles. Her best Grand Slam result was reaching the semis at the 2026 French Open. At the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, she captured a silver medal in women’s doubles with her partner Mirra Andreeva.

The 2026 Toray Pan Pacific Open is a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It is the 52nd edition of the Pan Pacific Open and played as part of the WTA 500 class tournaments on the 2026 WTA Tour schedule.

The competitions are held at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan, between October 26 and November 1 and offer $1.2 million in prize money. Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 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 exclude athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating 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 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 reaffirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams participating in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.