BEIJING, October 2. /TASS/. Russia’s top-ranked tennis player Daniil Medvedev cleared the opening round of the 2026 ATP China Open tournament after defeating on Friday Pablo Carreno Busta from Spain.

The 3rd-seeded Russian, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, outplayed his Spanish opponent in straight sets 6-4; 6-2. Medvedev is now set to play in the next round against Germany’s unseeded Jan-Lennard Struff, who in the opening round of the tournament breezed past Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-1; 6-4.

Medvedev, 30, spent sixteen weeks as the world’s number one player in 2022. He is currently ranked 6th in the ATP Rankings. He previously won the 2021 US Open and holds 24 ATP titles. He won five of those 23 titles in 2023. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.

The 2026 China Open is an ATP 500 professional tennis tournament. Played on outdoor hard courts at the National Tennis Center in Beijing between September 30 and October 6, this year’s tourney offers over $4 million in prize money. Italy’s Jannik Sinner is the tournament’s reigning champion, but he is skipping this season due to an earlier sustained injury.

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.