The 32-year-old player has taken to social media to reveal her ordeal, claiming she was treated like a "third-class person" after spending the night at Cairo International Airport in the Egyptian capital.

She was due to play at the Ladies Open Calvi Eaux de Zilia, scheduled to be held from yesterday until Sunday (April 30), only to withdraw after allegedly facing issues at the airport.

According to legislation introduced last September, Russian citizens are not allowed to enter Poland through the external border for economic, sporting, tourist or cultural purposes.

"Today, LOT Airlines denied me a flight to a tournament in Corsica on the Cairo-Warsaw-Nice route, as I am the owner of a Russian passport," Dyachenko wrote in a post on Instagram as reported by Russia’s official state news agency TASS.

"In addition, I had letters of support from my dad, who was born in Ukraine and works for the UN (United Nations).

"This letter stated that I was his daughter [since the policy of this airline allows family members of people who are on a mission and have a diplomatic passport to fly], but it seems that this rule no longer applies to me."

Dyachenko claimed she had slept on benches, had no food and was unable to leave the airport where she had been for 18 hours.

"Leaving for Europe as a citizen of Russia, I received a visa for only 14 days (usually as an athlete I get it for 2-3 years)," Dyachenko wrote on Instagram.

"In addition, this visa had to be through Spain, since this is the only country who issued this visa.

"So the flight had to pass through Spain, so other borders, such as the border of the country where my tournament takes place, do not allow me to fly except through Spain.

"In reality, this means four flights instead of two.

"End of story: I spent the night at the airport, I was treated like a third-class person, I spent a couple of thousand euros, now there is no way to get to the tournament, as there is no route due to airlines that do not transport Russians, and visa restrictions.

"In the end, I have to withdraw and the only option is to return home and miss another tournament because of this situation."

The Ladies Open Calvi Eaux de Zilia is an event on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women's World Tennis Tour.

Russian and Belarusian players have been allowed to play as neutrals on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), men's Association of Tennis Professionals and ITF Tours since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Ukrainian star Marta Kostyuk has recently claimed that “no more than” five players from Russia and Belarus have privately expressed opposition to the war.

The International Olympic Committee has cited tennis' position on Russian and Belarusian athletes in defending its decision to allow their return as individual neutrals provided they do not support the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated to the military.

Dyachenko is currently women’s singles world number 258 having been ranked as high as 71 in November 2014.

She made it to the third round of Wimbledon in 2018 and has won three WTA Challenger titles in her career.

insidethegames has contacted the ITF for comment.