Russian tennis players collect 3 titles at US Open tuneups

By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s been quite a week for Russia’s professional tennis players. There were four WTA and ATP tournaments — and Russians earned three of those 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. Samsonova beat Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final of the Citi Open in Washington on Sunday. That came a day after Medvedev won the championship at Los Cabos, Mexico, and several hours before Kasatkina won a title in California. All three are hard-court tuneups for the U.S. Open.