Russian tennis gamers Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider reached the ladies’s doubles semifinals on the Paris Olympics with a victory Thursday, giving the athletes from their nation — who’re competing as Particular person Impartial Athletes, recognized by the French acronym AIN — an opportunity at their first medal of this Summer time Video games.
Andreeva, a 17-year-old who remains to be in highschool, and Shnaider, a 20-year-old who performed school tennis at North Carolina State after transferring to the US, eradicated the second-seeded Czech duo of Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova 6-1, 7-5 within the quarterfinals.
Russia and Belarus had been banned by the Worldwide Olympic Committee from staff sports activities on the Paris Video games due to the conflict in Ukraine that started in February 2022. Particular person athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports had been allowed to compete as neutrals in the event that they certified after which had been authorised for entry to the Olympics.
ALSO READ | Murray profession ends in doubles quarterfinal defeat
Andreeva reached her first Grand Slam singles semifinal on the French Open in June. That event is performed on the identical Roland Garros facility getting used for tennis through the 2024 Paris Video games.
Siniakova and Krejcikova had been the ladies’s doubles gold medalists on the Tokyo Olympics three years in the past and have collected seven Grand Slam doubles trophies as a staff. Siniakova additionally teamed with Coco Gauff to win this yr’s French Open title.