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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday September 17, 2020

 
Victoria Azarenka

Victoria Azarenka handed Sofia Kenin a 6-0, 6-0 drubbing at Rome to reach the round of 16.

Photo Source: Getty

61 minutes.

One harsh lesson: Don’t mess with Victoria Azarenka right now.

Azarenka trounced Sofia Kenin 6-0 6-0 on Thursday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, avenging a loss to Kenin at Acapulco in 2019 with a smothering effort against the stunned No.3 seed.

"I think the consistency was the key to the scoreline," said Azarenka. "I feel that I played really smart tennis today. I was able to lose a lot of court, I was able to use a lot of different pace, so I'm very happy with that."

Azarenka missed just four first serves and never faced a break point against Kenin, and she was crisp from behind the baseline, committing just four unforced errors against 10 winners.


On the other side of the court Kenin didn’t seem to know what hit her. The American, who lost in the round of 16 to Elise Mertens at the US Open, committed 22 unforced errors against 11 winners and only won 29 points across the match.

Azarenka will move on to face Russian qualifier Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16. The 2013 runner-up at Rome gets her first Top 5 win since defeating Karolina Pliskova at Stuttgart last year.

The Belarusian has now won 13 of 14 matches since starting her title run at the Western and Southern Open.

Muguruza defeats Coco Gauff in 3

Two-time Rome semifinalist needed three sets to get past 16-year-old American Coco Gauff but she got it done and will move on to face Johanna Konta after her 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3 victory on Wednesday.

The World No. 17 broke Gauff three times in the deciding set to pull away with the victory and improve to 19-5 on the season.

Gauff can hold her head high after a good battle.

"I don't look at her as a different player," Muguruza said after the match. "She's here and she's playing, and it doesn't matter how old she is. She a great competitor and she can play very well, as she's proven.”

In other action Thursday at the Foro Italico, Polona Hercog snapped a 22-match losing streak against the Top 10 by defeating World No.8 Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-4.

Hercog’s last Top 10 triumph had come in 2012.

Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova battled past Anett Kontaveit 4-6 7-5 6-3, while her compatriot Daria Kasatkina stopped Katerina Siniakova 6-2 6-3.

Other Results

[7] Konta d. Begu 6-0, 6-4
Putintseva d. [8] Martic 6-3 6-7(2) 6-4
[12] Vondrousova d. Rus 6-3 6-3

 

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