By Chris Oddo | Tuesday, May 12, 2015

 

It took Serena Williams a few games to get limbered up, but she was in top form in time to race past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straights sets on Tuesday in Rome.

Photo Source: Christopher Levy

After working out a few early-match kinks and quickly getting accustomed to the slower conditions at the Italian Open, Serena Williams cruised comfortably to victory over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-1, 6-3.

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Williams improved to 5-0 against the world No. 39, converting five of seven break points to set up a third-round encounter with either Sara Errani or Christina McHale.

Williams hit 25 winners against 17 unforced errors to improve her Rome winning streak to 15 matches. Williams has not lost in Rome since falling to Jelena Jankovic in the 2010 semifinal. The American skipped 2011, retired before her semifinal with Li Na in 2012 and has won the title in each of the last two years.

Though she seemed to be hobbled by an arm injury in the early going, Williams simply needed a few games to warm up. By the end of the sixth game, which saw Williams execute a regal drop shot for a double-break lead, Williams was in top form.

She would close the opener winning the final eleven points.

The 19-time major champion then broke for 2-1 in the second set and again for 4-1 before Pavlyuchenkova managed a fightback, holding and breaking to get to 5-3.

But Williams would notch her final break in the next game to close the match in 62 minutes.

In other action on Tuesday in Rome, Maria Sharapova advanced when Jarmila Gajdosova was forced to retire with an injury in the second set, while Victoria Azarenka needed three sets to overcome Lucie Hradecka despite 16 double-faults.

10th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro (d. Mona Barthel) and 12th-seeded Lucie Safarova (d. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova) were also winners.

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