By Tass
Copyright tass
BEIJING, September 30. /TASS/. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev had to retire due to an apparent injury on Tuesday in his semifinal match against Learner Tien from the United States at the 2025 China Open tournament in Beijing.
The Russian, who was playing as a neutral at the tournament, won the opening set 7-5, lost the following one 5-7 and was behind 0-4 in the third when he announced retirement. Tien will now play in the final against World No. 2 Jannik Sinner from Italy.
“I was down 3-5 and 2-4 in the second and clawed my way back,” the tournament’s official website quoted Tien as saying after the match. “I didn’t think anything was wrong with him and then he came out of the bathroom break kind of limping, so I was not sure if he was cramping or if he was injured as he had tape on his leg.”
“I think it was cramping and I have been there and it is not fun. All the best to him and it is not how you want to come through a match but I am happy to be in the final,” the US player added.
Tien, 19, is currently ranked 52nd in the ATP Rankings but has never won a tour title.
Russia’s Medvedev, 29, spent sixteen weeks as the world’s number one in 2022. Currently, he’s the 18th-ranked player in the world. He previously won the 2021 US Open and is a 20-time ATP champion. He won five of those 20 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.
The 2025 China Open is an ATP 500 professional tennis tournament. Played on outdoor hard courts at the National Tennis Center in Beijing between September 25 and October 1, this year’s tourney offers over $4 million in prize money. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz 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.
