Russian tennis players win three of four tournaments ahead of US Open

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It was quite a week for Russia’s professional tennis players — four tournaments, three titles.

One of them, Liudmila Samsonova, thinks it might not be merely a coincidence that this recent run of success for her, Daria Kasatkina and Daniil Medvedev comes shortly after they were banned from competing at Wimbledon because of their country’s invasion of, and ongoing war in, Ukraine.

"We are are all very angry about the situation," Samsonova said after beating Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final of the Citi Open on Sunday for her second career WTA title. "I mean, it was a really tough month."

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Daria Kasatkina of Russia holds the trophy after defeating Shelby Rogers in the singles finale at Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, part of the Hologic WTA Tour, at Spartan Tennis Complex on August 07, 2022 in San Jose, California.  (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Samsonova earned her trophy in Washington a day after Medvedev, who leads the men’s rankings, defeated Britain's Cam Norrie for the championship at Los Cabos, Mexico, and several hours before Kasatkina won the title at San Jose, California, with a victory over American Shelby Rogers. All three events are hard-court tuneups ahead of the year’s last Grand Slam tournament, the U.S. Open, which begins in New York on Aug. 29; Medvedev is the defending champion there. (The week's fourth title, the men's event at the Citi Open, was won by Australia's Nick Kyrgios; a Russian, Andrey Rublev, reached the semifinals).

At the previous Grand Slam event, Wimbledon, which ran from late June into July, all athletes from Russia and Belarus were