A bizarre turn of events has seen local tennis star Alejandro Davidovich make an early departure from the French Open at Roland Garros.

The 21-year-old lost to Andréi Rubliov in the second round of the Grand Slam tournament in Paris on Thursday evening, 5-7 1-6 6-3 1-6.

He had set up the clash with Rubliov by seeing off Harold Mayot 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-5 in a rain-interrupted first round match on Tuesday.

Davidovich had hoped, however, to be competing for a chance to win his second doubles trophy too. The player, who calls Fuengirola his home, confirmed last week that he would be partnering up with veteran Fernando Verdasco for the first time. However, he was dealt a blow at the weekend when it was announced that Verdasco had been disqualified for testing positive for Covid-19.

The 36-year-old had coronavirus in August but tested negative before the Rome Masters 1000 and the Hamburg tournament. "My team and family travelled to Paris and had the corresponding PCR test done again. Everyone was negative except me. I tried to explain my history and situation to try to apply for another test, especially after seeing what happened in similar cases with other players," he said.

However, the tournament's organisers refused to allow him to take another test and he announced on Thursday that he intended to sue them.