Day 1 and a good job well done.

Andrey Rublev nipped neatly past Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to settle comfortably into the second round.

His Wimbledon had begun and he was just delighted to be back in SW19 for the first time since 2021.

He had not had it all his own way against the Australian but he had swerved any danger and come through unscathed.

“I’m really happy to be back after a two-year break and to compete at Wimbledon is a special feeling,” Rublev said cheerfully.

“Of course, you always want to win in straight sets and in the easiest way possible but, obviously, it’s never going this way.

“So I was 5-2 down in the second set and I was lucky I was able to come back because, in my head, I was already preparing myself for the third set.

“But I played a few good shots, I was able to come back and I played a really good third set.”

At first glance, there seems little between these two: they are both 25, they are both about the same height – Rublev is an inch taller at 6ft 2ins (1.88m) – Purcell is 11lbs heavier at 176lbs (80kg), they are both right-handed with a double-fisted backhand and they both sport an unruly mop of curls (Rublev’s is red; Purcell’s is blond). So far, so similar.

Yet Rublev is the world No.7; Purcell is the No.64. Rublev has 13 titles to his name (including his first Masters 1000 trophy won in Monte Carlo this spring); Purcell has none. Rublev has reached seven Grand Slam quarter-finals; this was only the sixth Grand Slam match of Purcell’s career. And he’s only notched up one win in that run.

There is one thing that unites them, though: neither of them has much by way of pedigree on grass. A couple of years ago, Rublev reached the fourth round here, his best result to date, but for a player of his calibre, it is still a pretty miserly return for his efforts.

As for Purcell, while a Wimbledon doubles champion last year, this is only his second singles appearance in SW19 (he lost in the first round in 2022) and his preparations for The Championships were short and not particularly sweet: he lost in the first round in Mallorca to Feliciano Lopez.

All of that probably explains the first set. The Sydneysider dutifully stayed at the back of the court (which is where Rublev wanted him) and was duly broken in the sixth game. After 30 minutes, the first set was wrapped up and the No.7 seed was seemingly in charge.

Purcell, though, was nowhere near done yet. He may earn his corn on the Challenger circuit but this year he has been hoovering up the wins at that level – 34 of them so far – and is top of the match-win leader board. And with three Challenger titles collected so far in 2023, he is in joint first place on that success list, too, alongside a certain Andy Murray.

And now our Max was ready to roll his sleeves up and have a bit of fun.

It turns out that he had nice touch at the net, that his serve, while not the biggest, could be ruthlessly efficient and that he knew how to unsettle his more illustrious foe.

He even tried an underarm serve as he skipped lightly to a 4-1 lead in the second set. He missed it, mind you, but followed it up with a regulation delivery that turned out to be a second service ace. Only when he came to close out the set did it all go wrong: he dropped serve with an almighty clang and that was the end of that.

Muttering darkly that “it wasn’t rocket science”, the Australian berated himself for throwing away his big chance.

Against a player of Rublev’s talents, opportunities are few and far between and they cannot be passed over, not if he wanted to have any hope of success. Meanwhile, his rival was two sets to the good and getting stronger by the game.

The Rublev serve was relentless, the forehand was firing with increasing pace and accuracy and, despite a minor hiccup at the start of the third set when the two exchanged breaks, there was no stopping the No.7 seed.

In a little over an hour and a half, he had reached the second round.

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