Andrey Rublev dismissed a substitute opponent on Wednesday with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Rikardas Berankis in the second round of the ATP Hamburg 500 event.
The second seed had been originally set to face Kazakh Alexander Bublik but instead found himself facing the Lithuanian journeyman.
Rublev piled on 12 aces in a victory which lasted for less than an hour and a quarter, breaking his No. 107 opponent three times.
“I’m happy with my performance. Ricardas is a really tough player,” the winner said. “He hits the ball really hard and plays fast.
“I had to bring intensity from the first game. I’m really happy with how I was serving today.
Rublev improved his record here to 10-2 after reaching the final in 2019 winning the titles a year later over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The No. 8 now bids for the quarter-final against The Francisco Cerundolo. Rublev owns three ATP titles already this season at Marseille, Dubai and Belgrade.
He came to Hamburg after last weekend’s Bastad semi-final.
