Coco Gauff eases past Yulia Putintseva and Victoria Azarenka beats Sloane Stephens as pair progress in Italian Open

Coco Gauff made little error as she swept past Yulia Putintseva 6-0 6-1 at the Italian Open in Rome.

The sixth seed won seven straight games as she claimed the first set in style and took the front foot in the opener before Putintseva clawed a game back to the appreciation of the Rome crowd.

But it would only go down as a consolation, as Gauff thundered through the next five games to put a marker down in her Rome opener.

The American was relentless from start to finish and wrapped up a glowing performance to move into the round of 32 in less than an hour.

Earlier on, Victoria Azarenka won her opening match 6-4 6-3 to move past Sloane Stephens.

The two former world No. 1’s kicked off the action on Thursday and despite the straight-set scoreline posted by the Belarusian, she was made to work for her one-hour, 42-minute triumph.

Stephens looked in good shape to continue her six-game winning run when she led Azarenka by a break twice in the first set, and once more in the second.

But as the pair began to adjust to each other’s shifting tactics, it was Azarenka who proved too aggressive for Stephens.

The 33-year-old utilised her strong back-hand game to open up the court which proved crucial as she navigated her way through the match.

She came through five deuces to break for 4-2 in the second set but dropped serve as Stephens threatened to draw the match level, but Azarenka redoubled her efforts to win the final two games of the match.

Later, third seed Jessica Pegula is in action against fellow American Taylor Townsend, and fifth seed Caroline Garcia plays Ana Bogdan.