It's really, really tough to play against him," Rublev said. The forecourt had been uncharted territory for Rublev early in the match but he then started coming to the net purposefully. The pair looked evenly matched for much of the near-three-hour contest as Karatsev entertained the crowd with his powerful groundstrokes. He struggled to break Rublev, however, and it was the five break points converted by Rublev to Karatsev's two that proved the difference and the seventh seed clinched victory on his first match point. Rublev, who did not play at Wimbledon last year due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, will next face wildcard David Goffin or qualifier Tomas Barrios Vera.

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Persons: Andrey Rublev, Russia's Aslan Karatsev, Toby Melville LONDON, Aslan Karatsev, Karatsev, Rublev, Aslan, It's, David Goffin, Tomas Barrios Vera, Rohith Nair, Ed Osmond Organizations: Lawn Tennis, Croquet Club, Wimbledon, Halle, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, Dubai, Belarusian, Bengaluru