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Russia's Shubladze advances to quarterfinals of 2026 WTA Hong Kong Open

Alexandra Shubladze is set to play in the quarterfinals against the winner of the match between top-seed Sorana Cirstea from Romania and Mary Stoiana of the United States

MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. /TASS/. World No. 136 Alexandra Shubladze of Russia reached the quarterfinals of the 2026 Hong Kong Open tennis tournament on Thursday after defeating her compatriot Yelena Pridankina.

In a match that lasted 2 hours 45 minutes, Shubladze outplayed Pridankina 6-7 (6-8); 6-1; 6-3. Both Russian players are unseeded and they are playing at international tournaments under a neutral status.

Russia’s Shubladze is now set to play in the quarterfinals against the winner of the match between top-seed Sorana Cirstea from Romania and Mary Stoiana of the United States.

Subladze, 21, is currently 136th in the WTA (the Women's Tennis Association) Rankings and as of today she has not won any of the WTA titles.

The 2026 Hong Kong Open is a 250 WTA class tournament played on outdoor hard courts in Victoria Park on November 2-8. It offers $283,000 in prize money. The tournament’s reigning champion is Victoria Mboko from Canada.

The only Russians to win this tournament are Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (2017) and Diana Shnaider (2024).

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.

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