Copyright tass
PARIS, October 29. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev advanced on Wednesday to the third round of the 2025 ATP Paris Masters 1000 tennis tournament in the French capital after his second-round opponent Grigor Dimitrov from Bulgaria withdrew ahead of his clash with the Russian. "Grigor Dimitrov’s return to action this week at the Paris Masters was sweet, but sadly cut short when he withdrew from his second-round clash with Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday afternoon," according to the ATP official website. "The 34-year-old Bulgarian, who was sidelined for three months due to a pectoral injury, made a winning return on Monday against [French] Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. But, ahead of his 12th ATP Head2Head meeting with Medvedev (8-3 Medvedev), Dimitrov withdrew due to a shoulder injury," the ATP reported. The 11th-seeded Medvedev, who is playing under neutral status at the tournament, is set to play in the next round against the winner of the Italian duel between Lorenzo Musetti (7th-seeded) and Lorenzo Sonego (unseeded). Russia’s Medvedev, 29, spent sixteen weeks as the world’s number one in 2022. Currently, he’s the 13th-ranked player in the world. He previously won the 2021 US Open and is a 21-time ATP champion. He won five of those 21 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team. The 53rd edition of this ATP Paris Masters 1000 tournament is played on indoor hard courts at the La Defense Arena in the French capital between October 27 and November 2 and offers $6.13 million in prize money. Germany’s Alexander Zverev 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 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.
