Russian tennis players Andreeva and Shnaider reach the semifinals as AIN athletes at the Olympics

PARIS -- Russian tennis players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider reached the women's doubles semifinals at the Paris Olympics with a victory Thursday, giving the athletes from their country — who are competing as Individual Neutral Athletes, known by the French acronym AIN — a chance at their first medal of this Summer Games.

Andreeva, a 17-year-old who is still in high school, and Shnaider, a 20-year-old who played college tennis at North Carolina State after moving to the United States, eliminated the second-seeded Czech duo of Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova 6-1, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.

"We know that we will keep fighting until the last point. That’s probably why we are working together so well," said Andreeva, who is playing her first tournament with Shnaider.

Russia and Belarus were banned by the International Olympic Committee from team sports at the Paris Games because of the war in Ukraine that began in February 2022. Individual athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports were allowed to compete as neutrals if they qualified and then were approved for entry to the Olympics.

It was a laborious match played in intense heat, with temperatures near the 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) and a storm alert delaying play for more than an hour on the uncovered Court 7. Flags from the Czech Republic were everywhere in the stands, while none from Russia was present because of the ban.

Still, there were cheers for the two Russian players, with spectators chanting Andreeva's and Shnaider’s names during the match.

“I heard many words of encouragement today,” Shnaider said. “This gave us a lot of energy to fight.”

When asked how it felt not to represent their home country at the tournament, both first-time Olympians said tennis comes first.

“For me, it does not matter, I just go out there and play," Andreeva said. "It just doesn’t matter what is happening outside of tennis.”

Added Shnaider: “My family is proud of me, that’s all that matters."

Andreeva reached her first Grand Slam singles semifinal at the French Open in June. That tournament is played at the same Roland Garros facility being used for tennis during the 2024 Paris Games.

Siniakova and Krejcikova were the women's doubles gold medalists at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago and have collected seven Grand Slam doubles trophies as a team. Siniakova also teamed with Coco Gauff to win this year's French Open title.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games