PARIS: Russia’s Andrey Rublev raced to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Britain’s Jacob Fearnley in the first round of the Paris Masters on Monday as the event made its debut in its new La Defense Arena home.

After being held for nearly 40 years at Paris’ Bercy Arena, the tournament has moved across the city to set up shop in the cavernous multi-purpose arena.

Opened in 2017, the venue is best known as the home ground of French Top 14 rugby club Racing 92 and for having played host to the swimming events at the Olympics last year. It also welcomes concerts and political rallies.

12th seed Rublev won the toss and elected to receive, his decision immediately being rew­arded as he broke Fearnley’s serve in the very first game.

The Briton accumulated double-faults at crucial moments in the fifth and seventh games as Rublev cruised to the opening set. Fearnley wiped out an early break in the second set but Rublev pounced on his opponent’s serve at 4-5 to book his spot in the second round.

Earlier, the event opened with a pair of wins for French wildcards. Arthur Cazaux beat Italy’s Luciano Darderi 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) triumph over while Arthur Rinderknech downed Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan with the same score.

Italy’s Flavio Cobolli recorded a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Czech Tomas Machac and Kazakh 13th seed Alexander Bublik defeated Australia’s Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-3.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2025