Iga Swiatek off to best possible start at Italian Open after a double-bagel victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Iga Swiatek’s quest for a third consecutive Italian Open title remained on track after she pulled off a double-bagel victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

It took the world No. 1 just 67 minutes to secure her place in the next round with a 6-0, 6-0 win over her opponent which means she has now won an astonishing 31 bagel sets since 2022.

The win also marked Swiatek’s 12^th consecutive triumph and means that, along with Chris Evert, she is just the second player to have multiple 6-0, 6-0 wins in Rome, however the 21 year-old insisted that the score ‘doesn’t matter’.

‘’When I'm playing these kind of matches, I'm just trying to be focused," Swiatek said after the match.

"It's actually pretty hard to be focused when you are really thinking [about the score].

‘’So I'm trying to remember what got me this nice score, what I should do to continue playing that well. I just want to be consistent in it.

"In my opinion, 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.’’

While Swiatek has secured victories at the Doha and Stuttgart WTA 500 events earlier this year, she is still on the hunt for her first WTA 1000 title of the season after a disappointing loss to world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the Madrid Open on Saturday.

Swiatek will also be looking to defend her title at the French Open, which kickstarts on May 28, and clinch her fourth Grand Slam title.