Merciless Swiatek delivers a double-bagel start

Iga Swiatek wasted no time in getting comfortable in her Rome Masters start, with the world No. 1 crushing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-0 to move into the third round.

The rout in 67 minutes got the top seed off and running this week on clay as the May 28 start of Roland Garros draws closer.

The Pole who is defending the title at the Foro Italico won her 12th match in a row at the event, joining a list comprising Chris Evert, Conchita Martinez, Gabriela Sabatini, Maria Sharapova, and Serena Williams.

Swiatek also delivered a double bagel result here in the 2021 final over Karolina Pliskova.

Pavlyuchenkova, finalist two years ago at Roland Garros, was unable to make progress in the face of her opponent’s onslaught; Swiatek totally dominated proceedings with 19 winners and just nine unforced errors.

She also broke on six of 11 chances and took full advantage of 19 unforced errors from her outclassed opposite number.

I feel pretty confident here,” the winner of the last two Rome editions said.

“These are the right circumstances and conditions for me to play my
solid game. 

“This court is a little bit different than most of the stadiums – I feel a little bit closer to the court. 

“You have to be focused and look at what’s going on on court and not on the audience.

“The Italian people are really emotional and just enjoy good tennis (smiling). It’s nice to play for them.”

Swiatek said that she is not overly impressed by a double-bagel scoreline.

“The score doesn’t really matter and it doesn’t have any influence on my feeling on the court. 

“I’m just trying to play my best tennis no matter what the score is.”