Flawless Azarenka hands rare double bagel to Kenin in Rome

Tennis - WTA Premier 5 - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - September 17, 2020 Belarus' Victoria Azarenka during her second round match against Sofia Kenin of the U.S. Pool via REUTERS/Clive Brunskill

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

Azarenka, who lost the U.S. 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 Australian Open champion.

American 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.

Tennis - WTA Premier 5 - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - September 17, 2020 Belarus' Victoria Azarenka with Sofia Kenin of the U.S. after winning their second round match Pool via REUTERS/Clive Brunskill

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

"I think consistency was key to the scoreline, I feel like I played really smart tennis today," Azarenka told reporters. "I was able to use a lot of the court and different pace.

"I went for bigger serves when I needed it, I went for variety. I wasn't feeling very good in the warm-up today but it worked out in the match."

Tennis - WTA Premier 5 - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - September 17, 2020 Belarus' Victoria Azarenka in action during her second round match against Sofia Kenin of the U.S. Pool via REUTERS/Clive Brunskill

Earlier, former French Open champion Garbine Muguruza was tested by American teenager Coco Gauff before the Spaniard advanced to the last 16 with a 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3 victory.

Playing in the main draw of a WTA tournament for the first time in her career, Gauff went toe-to-toe with the twice Grand Slam champion before capitulating in the third set when a string of double faults gave Muguruza the advantage.

"I don't look at her as a different player," Muguruza said. "It doesn't matter how old she is. She's a great competitor and she can play very well."

Tennis - WTA Premier 5 - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - September 17, 2020 Sofia Kenin of the U.S. in action during her second round match against Belarus' Victoria Azarenka Pool via REUTERS/Angelo Carconi

In the men's field, Italian seventh seed Fabio Fognini was ousted in straight sets by Ugo Humbert, with the Frenchman winning 7-5 7-6(4) in a match that started unusually with six consecutive breaks of serve.

Humbert will take on Canadian 12th seed Denis Shapovalov, who beat Pedro Martinez 6-4 6-4.

Argentine eighth seed Diego Schwartzman also advanced with a 6-4 7-6(1) victory over John Millman to set up a last-16 clash with Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, who stunned U.S. Open quarter-finalist and ninth seed Andrey Rublev 7-6(6) 3-6 6-2.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)