WASHINGTON, August 6. /TASS/. Russia’s Lyudmila Samsonova defeated Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic in the second round match of the 2026 WTA Toronto Open tennis tournament in Canada.

Unseeded Samsonova, who plays under neutral status internationally, took down the 22nd-seed Krejcikova in straight sets 6-1; 7-5. The Russian is now set to play in the third round against Australia’s unseeded Maya Joint.

Samsonova, 27, is currently ranked 55th in the Women’s Tennis Association Rankings (WTA) and has five career WTA titles. Playing on the Grand Slam circuit, she has made it as far as Round 4 (2021 Wimbledon and 2022, 2024 US Open). In 2021, she won the Billie Jean King Cup as part of the Russian national team.

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.