“The girl by mistake took the wrong racquet to the stringer by mistake, the one he uses for playing,” umpire Manuel Messina could be heard saying. “She’s coming back with the right racquet. Thanks.”
While the Spaniard watched over the interaction, Rublev took the break to meditate. Meanwhile, Messina reiterated the urgency of the request, asking the girl to return as hurriedly as possible so play could resume. After five minutes, the playing racquet was returned and swapped for the right one, and play resumed with Davidovich Fokina serving at 1-2.
The Spaniard went onto defeat the No. 4 seed 7-5, 6-4, his first win against Rublev in six attempts.
