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Andrey Rublev and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina's second-round clash at the 2025 Barcelona Open witnessed a bizarre moment. It involved a mix-up over Davidovich Fokina's racket, and it caused a significant delay to proceedings.
The match witnessed an unforeseen delay during a changeover, after a girl tasked with taking the players' rackets to the stringer made a mistake. Instead of carrying the racket Davidovich Fokina intended her to take to the stringer, she took away the racket he was playing with. The incident took place after only three games of the contest had been played. At the time, the Russian led the Spaniard 2-1 on serve.
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Puzzled at what could have possibly caused the delay so early on in the match, ATP No. 8 Andrey Rublev questioned the chair umpire. The latter eventually informed the Russian about what had happened, and after a rather lengthy wait, play eventually resumed. Watch the entire incident unfold below:
The match itself turned out to deliver a surprising result, as the 30th-ranked Alejandro Davidovich Fokina registered a 7-5, 6-4 victory against his significantly higher-ranked opponent. Davidovich Fokina has been in red-hot form recently, with the Spaniard's ongoing Barcelona Open run coming on the back of a semifinal finish at this year's Monte-Carlo Masters, where he lost to compatriot and eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Fokina's win over Rublev in Barcelona marked a significant personal milestone for the Spaniard in terms of getting the better of the Russian in ATP Tour-level matches.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina snaps losing streak against Andrey Rublev with Barcelona Open 2025 2R win
In the five encounters between Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Andrey Rublev before their 2025 Barcelona Open meeting, it was the Russian who came out on top. The Spaniard though, finally managed to break his ATP Tour-level duck against Rublev in Barcelona, aided by a significantly better first serve win percentage. Fokina was also solid on return, as he converted five out of ten break-point opportunities.
The win also marks the Spaniard's 20th win on the ATP Tour in the ongoing season. Only Carlos Alcaraz and Alex de Minaur have won more matches than Fokina in 2025 so far.
Up next for the 25-year-old in Barcelona is Karen Khachanov, a former World No. 8. The Russian has so far registered wins over Cameron Norrie and Jaume Munar at the ATP 500-level tournament.
