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Flawless Azarenka double-bagels Kenin

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Victoria Azarenka double-bagled Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-0 6-0 at the Italian Open.
Camera IconVictoria Azarenka double-bagled Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-0 6-0 at the Italian Open.

Victoria Azarenka produced a masterclass on centre court at the Italian Open to knock out Australian Open champion champion Sofia Kenin with a dominant 6-0 6-0 victory in the second round on Thursday.

Azarenka, who lost the US Open final in New York on Saturday and flew in to Rome to beat Venus Williams in a two-hour first-round match on Wednesday, needed only an hour to dispatch the American third seed.

Kenin, who received a bye into the second round, had no answers to Azarenka's consistency from the baseline and made a string of errors, finishing the match with 22 unforced errors while Azarenka made only four.

Kenin did not create a single opportunity to break the 31-year-old Belarusian while Azarenka won an overwhelming 89 per cent of her first serve points at the Foro Italico while converting six of 11 break points.

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The former world No.1 will now face Russian Daria Kasatkina after she triumphed 6-2 6-3 against Czech Katerina Siniakova.

Earlier, Garbine Muguruza made it through to the last-16 following the Spaniard's 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-3 win against 16-year-old US player Coco Gauff.

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Even Muguruza had a nervous start as she conceded a 3-1 lead with a double fault in the first set, but the 2016 French Open champion rallied to break back immediately and eventually forced a tie-break.

The world No. 17 then reeled off four straight points to edge a hard-fought first frame.

Gauff raced through the second set but the teenager dropped serve in the third to trail 4-2.

A netted return after another error-strewn service game at 5-3 handed Muguruza the match after two hours 27 minutes.

Muguruza will play Johanna Konta next after the Briton swept aside Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu 6-0 6-4.

Also in the women's tournament, another Russian in Svetlana Kuznetsova progressed to Friday's third round.

The two-time grand slam champion battled back from a set behind to overcome Estonia's Anett Kontaveit 4-6 7-5 6-3.

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