Carlos Alcaraz started his Vienna Open campaign with an impressive victory against Karen Khachanov in the first round of the ATP 500 tournament.

The Spaniard won 6-4, 7-6 against the world No 24 in a very entertaining first round match-up, which was brimming with quality throughout.

Alcaraz will await the winner of Jurij Rodionov or Nikoloz Basilashvili in the second round as he looks to continue his ATP 500 winning streak, which dates back to last year’s Queen’s Club Championships.

The star was not meant to play the Vienna Open, but he ended up taking a wildcard into the tournament following the Six Kings Slam being delayed until December.

Alcaraz arrived early at the tournament and he played a practice session with Andrey Rublev ahead of his first match at the indoor tournament.

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Rublev lost his first round match against Tommy Paul, which is particularly surprising as Alcaraz said he was ‘unplayable’ in their pratice session.

Speaking at the Vienna Open, Alcaraz said: “Sometimes it’s really hard to see things for what they are, you know. When I was practicing with Rublev, I lost 6-2, but I was playing well. He was unplayable. He hit every forehand full out and hit very powerful backhands.

“I couldn’t be aggressive at all, not even on one or two shots.That’s why I left the court a little unhappy, but at the same time telling myself: okay, I’m doing the right things.

“You know, sometimes in tennis you play against someone who tries not to let you play. But that day, I left the court thinking about what I had done well. I think I did a lot of good things, to be honest. I also learned a lot from these sessions.”

That just goes to show how difficult it is to produce a run of performances in the sport, with Rublev largely being swept aside by Paul in straight sets.

Rublev currently sits at world No 24 in the ATP Tour rankings and his defeat to Paul was his third opening round defeat in a row, after defeats against Rei Sakamoto in Shanghai and Adrian Mannarino in Almaty.

As for Alcaraz, he will likely be very happy to see Rublev exit at the first round stage, as he would have been likely to play the star in the quarterfinals of the Vienna Open.

It will now be Paul he should play in the quarterfinals, should he get there, who the Spaniard has beaten seven times in a row on the ATP Tour, most recently in the round of 16 at the US Open.