MADRID, April 24. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Diana Shnaider cleared Round 2 of the 2025 Madrid Open tournament on Thursday with the confident straight sets win over Katie Volynets from the United States. Russia’s 13th-seed Shnaider, who is playing in Spain under a neutral status, made her way to Round 3 of the WTA 1,000-class tournament after defeating her unseeded American opponent in straight sets 6-1; 6-2. In the next round, Shnaider is set to face off against unseeded Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova, who earlier in the day defeated her 23rd-seed compatriot Jelena Ostapenko (7-6; 6-2). Shnaider is 20 years old, and is currently ranked 13th in the Women Tennis Association (WTA) Rankings. Shnaider has four WTA titles to her name, winning all of them during the last year’s season. Her best result playing at the Grand Slam series tournaments was advancing to Round 4 of the 2024 US Open. Playing at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, she won a silver medal in women’s doubles with partner Mirra Andreeva. The 2025 Madrid Open is a clay-court tournament played at the Park Manzanares in the Spanish capital between April 22 and May 4. Poland’s Iga Swiatek 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 decided to bar 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 of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup. However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.