The 40 year old legend Stan Wawrinka received a wildcard to the ATP 500 Barcelona Open. Stan The man, a three time Grand Slam champion, will square off with Davidovich Fokina in the opening round. Alejandro has been on fire lately.
Last season Alejandro won 18 matches in total on the ATP tour. He has already achieved that amount of wins in 2025, which is impressive to say the least. He had a great week in Monte Carlo where he reached the semis at the ATP 1000 Rolex Masters. He lost it to Alcaraz in two close sets. Davidovich Fokina made a jump in the rankings from number 43 to 30. The 25 year old from Malaga highest ranking to date was at number 21 in August of 2023.
He has won 18 and lost nine matches so far in the 2025 season. Nice to see him start the year so positively since he faced a lot of adversity in the 2024 season. He told ATPtour.com the following last week in Monte Carlo: “I’ve matured and I'm stronger mentally now”. Davidovich Fokina has won 13 out of his last 18 matches played on the tour. There is no question about whether he is on fire or not.
Alejandro started out his season in Hong Kong with a first round loss. He lost in the second round in Adelaide and reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open. He followed that up with a second round exit in Dallas. After that things turned around for Davidovich Fokina. He got to the final at Delray Beach which he lost to Miomir Kecmanovic. The following week he reached the final at the ATP 500 Acapulco and lost it to Machac. Alejandro had a first round exit at Indian Wells and in the second round at the Miami Masters. Last week he took out Shelton, Etcheverry, Draper and Popyrin before he lost the semi to Alcaraz.
Stan the Man and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina have only faced each other on one occasion on the tour. It was at the end of last season at the ATP 250 Stockholm Open (indoor hard) and Wawrika won the round of 16 match in three sets (6-4, 3-6, 7-5). Stan is ranked at the 162nd spot currently. Wawrinka’s highest ranking ever was at number three in January of 2014. Stan the Man is still going strong and it's still a pleasure to watch his magnificent one armed backhand. He has only been able to win one match in the main tour this season. Stan has lost six, so his record is obviously 1-6.
Wawrinka lost straight away at the Australian Open in Melbourne to Sonego in four sets. Stan went on to lose in the opening round in Montpellier, just as he did in Rotterdam and Marseille. Wawrinka failed to qualify for Doha. Reached the second round in Bucharest (defeated Skatov) and lost in the first round in Monte Carlo last week.
