No. 2 Iga Swiatek, No. 3 Jessica Pegula move to third round at Italian Open

No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek needed just 52 minutes to advance to the third round at the Italian Open, topping home-country favorite Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1, 6-0 on Thursday in Rome.

It was a dominant performance by Swiatek, who won 84 percent (16 of 19) of the points on her first serve, compared to just 36 percent (9 of 25) for her opponent. She didn’t face a break point and broke Cocciaretto’s serve in five of six opportunities.

It was a far different performance from her last time out on clay, when she was trounced by Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-1 at the Madrid Open semifinals.

“I felt like the ball was kind of listening to me today and I had full control over the match, so it’s always pretty comfortable to play a match like that,” Swiatek said.

“You just need to continue the work you’ve been doing and not expect that it’s going to happen more often.”

This is the final tune-up before the French Open, where Swiatek, of Poland, has won four of the past five ladies’ singles draws — including the past three.

In Rome, she next will face No. 29 seed Danielle Collins, who reached the event semifinals in 2024. She moved on with a 6-3, 6-3 win over qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania.

No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula forged ahead to the third round after defeating fellow American Ashlyn Krueger, moving to 5-0 against her. On Thursday, Pegula triumphed 6-4, 6-2 in an 89-minute match that also hinged on her service prowess as she won 77 percent (23 of 30) of her first serves compared to 48 percent (24 of 50) for Krueger.

She also had 24 winners against 12 for Krueger. For Pegula, it was her 28th win on the season, second only to World No. 1 and top seed Aryana Sabalenka of Belarus’ 32.

Awaiting Pegula in the next round is Elise Mertens of Belgium, the No. 25 seed, who came from behind to defeat Suzan Lamens on the Netherlands 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Fifth-seeded Madison Keys advanced with a 7-6 (4), 6-1 win over France’s Varvra Gracheva and will face fellow American Peyton Sterns, who knocked off No. 28 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-2, 6-3.

Sixth-seeded Jasmine Paolini of Italy took a two-set win against Lulu Sun of New Zealand and will meet Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, the No. 27 seed who advanced when Czech Petra Kvitova withdrew.

Also moving on to oppose each other were No. 13 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia and Jaqueline Cristian of Romania, and No. 16 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and Hailey Baptiste of the United States, who upset No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova of Russia.

Naomi Osaka of Japan defeated lucky loser Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland and will meet the winner of Thursday’s later match between Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, the No. 18 seed, and Czech Marie Bouzkava.

Also awaiting her opponents is No. 17 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.

–Field Level Media