Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus will be unable to play in the WTA Prague Open after a ban on players from Russia and Belarus was imposed at Government level ©Getty Images

Russian and Belarusian players will not be allowed to participate in next week's Prague Open, part of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour.

The announcement by the organisers of the WTA 250 level event came a day after police prevented an unnamed Russian player from entering the country, AP reports.

It comes just a week after Russian tennis player Vera Zvonareva was banned from entering Poland for a WTA tournament in Warsaw, after she was placed on a list of "undesirables" by the Polish Government.

The WTA Tour currently allows Russians and Belarusians to play in tournaments as neutral athletes.

Russia's Polina Kudermetova, due to play in the WTA Tour Prague Open, will be unable to do so following a ban imposed by the Czech Government ©Getty Images
Russia's Polina Kudermetova, due to play in the WTA Tour Prague Open, will be unable to do so following a ban imposed by the Czech Government ©Getty Images

But the Czech Government has banned athletes from Russia and Belarus from sports competitions on Czech territory because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Miroslav Malý, the director of the hard-court tournament, did not identify the player but said she was the first participant with a Russian passport to arrive in the country.

He said organisers had approached other Russian and Belarusian players through the WTA to tell them not to travel to Prague.

The WTA said it "would continue to review the situation as we factor important considerations around these complex geopolitical issues", as reported by BBC Sport.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, the current world number 44, was due to play in the singles event in Prague while three Russians, Diana Shnaider, Polina Kudermetova and Erika Andreeva, were all scheduled to play in qualifying.