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Aryna Sabalenka opened her quest for back-to-back titles on clay Friday with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Russian Anastasia Potapova at the Italian Open in Rome.

A first-round bye meant the match was the first in Rome for Sabalenka, the No. 1 seed and top player in the world. It took her just 63 minutes to top Potapova and move to the third round.

For Sabalenka, of Belarus, her record on clay this season now is 9-1. The biggest clay-court tournament of all, the French Open, begins May 25, and she is getting ready by developing her strategy on the fly. In the case of Friday, it was a bigger use of the drop shot.

“I had to figure out the court, and how I can use my game in the best way on this surface,” Sabaleka said after the match. “This match was more like me trying to adjust to the surface.”

She won 80 percent of her points on first serve and hit 18 winners.

In the next round, she will face No. 31 Sofia Kenin, who topped Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-0.

Sabalenka remembers the last time she faced Kenin, which was two years ago in a second-round match in Rome. Also riding the Madrid title then, Sabalenka lost.

“It’s a good opportunity for a good revenge,” she said.

No. 4 seed Coco Gauff also advanced, but she needed three sets to oust Victoria Mboko of Canada. She fell behind as she dropped the first set, then closed out the win 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

If Gauff is to advance to the later rounds, however, she will need to cure the problems with her serve that have been known to ail her. She finished with eight double faults and dropped six break points on her serve. It’s the nine breaks she got off Mboko’s serve that guided the win.

Gauff’s next opponent will be No. 32 seed Magda Linette of Poland, who topped Maria Sakkari of Greece 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Moving to the third round was Russian Mirra Andreeva, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Emiliana Arango of Colombia. The No. 7 seed will take on Czech Linda Noskova, the No. 30 seed, who defeated Sonay Kartal of Great Britain.

China’s Qinwen Zhang, the No. 8 seed, defeated Olga Danilovic of Serbia to set up a third-round match with No. 26 Magdalena Frech of Poland, who beat Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in straight sets.

Other third-round matches will feature No. 10 Emma Navarro vs. No. 22 Clara Tauson of Denmark; No. 11 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan vs. Canadian Bianca Andreescu; No. 26 Leylah Fernandez of Canada against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine; and Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in a clash of unseeded players.

–Field Level Media

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