Andrey Rublev broke Jacob Fearnley's serve in the first game of their match at the Paris Masters in the tournament's new La Defense Arena home

Paris (AFP) - 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.

Now in its current guise as a tennis venue, La Defense Arena boasts the second largest showpiece court on the current global tennis circuit – second only in size terms to the US Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium.

On that vast stage, 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.

“I’m really happy to be at this new arena which is super beautiful,” Rublev said on-court.

“Jacob didn’t feel the serve in the first set, which helped me a bit… He played well in the second and I’m happy to have won.”

Earlier, the event opened with a pair of hardfought wins for French wildcards.

Arthur Cazaux christened the new 17,500-capacity centre court with a 7-6 (⁷⁄₅), 7-6 (⁷⁄₄) triumph over Italy’s Luciano Darderi.

Shanghai Masters runner-up Arthur Rinderknech then further delighted the local fans with a win by the exact same score against Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan.

Rising Italian player Flavio Cobolli kickstarted play on court one with 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.

Hometown hope Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard and Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov will later headline the night session on centre court.

The meeting will mark the Bulgarian former world number three’s return to action after being forced to retire injured when leading eventual Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner by two sets to love in the fourth round at SW19.

Tenth seed Karen Khachanov will complete the day’s play against American qualifier Ethan Quinn.