2020 Hamburg Open winner Andrey Rublev started this year's campaign with a straight-sets win over Ricardas Berankis, but there was a shock for the fourth seed.
Andrey Rublev has fired down 12 aces in a comfortable 6-3 6-4 first-round win over Ricardas Berankis at the Hamburg Open.
It was Rublev's first match in northern Germany since winning the tournament in 2020.
The 24-year-old now holds a 10-2 record at the ATP 500 clay-court event, having advanced to the final in 2019, before he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to lift the trophy in his previous appearance.
"I am happy with my performance. Ricardas is a really tough player," Rublev said in his on-court interview.
"He hits the ball really hard and plays fast, so I had to bring intensity from the first game.
"I am really happy with how I was serving today and I hit some great shots from the baseline."
Rublev is aiming to win his fourth tour-level title of the season after clinching crowns in Marseille, Dubai and Belgrade earlier this year and arrives in Hamburg off the back of a run to the semi-finals on clay in Bastad, Sweden.
The eighth-ranked Russian saw off Lithuania's lucky loser and will next face Bastad champion Francisco Cerundolo in the round of 16 after the Argentine defeated local Daniel Altmaier 2-6 6-4 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain was upset 6-3 1-6 7-6 (7-5) in his second-round match by Alex Molcan, in a contest which last two and a half hours.
The Slovakian moves on to a quarter-final meeting with Borna Coric after the Croatian's 6-3 6-4 triumph over Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.
Italay's Lorenzo Musetti defeated Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland 6-4 7-5 and will meet close friend Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the last eight after the Spaniard beat Slovakian qualifier Jozef Kovalik 6-2 6-2.
"We are always practising together and passing time together. It's really nice to play against him," Musetti said following his victory.
"Today we were joking about meeting in the quarter-finals. We both did it and we're going to enjoy it for sure."
