WASHINGTON, April 4. /TASS/. Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya reached the quarterfinals of the 2025 Charleston Open tennis tournament after defeating Madison Keys of the United States in the third round.
The 14th-seeded Kalinskaya, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, cruised past World No. 5 Keys in straight sets 6-2; 6-4. In the quarterfinals, she will be pitted against another American, Sofia Kenin.
Earlier in the day, Kenin made her way to the tournament’s quarterfinals by defeating Russian-born Daria Kasatkina (5th-seed), who since March now plays under the Australian flag.
"This one is special. I needed this for my confidence," the WTA official website quoted Kalinskaya as saying after her win over Keys. "I had an unfortunate start to the year, but it's nice to be back and playing at such a high level."
"I think the key tonight was to change a little bit the rhythm; I did a few drop shots, especially in the first set," she continued.
"I didn't want to go into very long rallies, because she's a great player and she has unbelievable strong shots, so I tried to step in on the serve, be aggressive as much as I could, and be very consistent ... to keep the level, and I think that was the key," the Russian added.
Kalinskaya, 26, is ranked 33rd in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Rankings. She has zero WTA titles in her career. Last year, she reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, marking her best finish at any Grand Slam in her career.
In one of the other quarterfinal matches, Russia’s 9th-seed Yekaterina Alexandrova is set to face off against the Chinese 3rd-seeded Qinwen Zheng.
Alexandrova, 30, plays under a neutral status at the international tennis tournaments, she is currently ranked 26th in the WTA Rankings and has five career WTA tournament titles under her belt. Her best career finish in Grand Slams was in 2023, when she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon. She is also the winner of the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup.
The 2025 Charleston Open is a WTA 500 category tennis tournament. The event takes place on outdoor clay courts at the Family Circle Tennis Center on Daniel Island in Charleston, South Carolina, and runs from March 31 to April 6. The tournament offers $1 million in prize money. American Danielle Collins 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 on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in 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.