Italian Open: Swiatek sails into third round but Jabeur beaten on return from injury

Iga Swiatek began her bid for a third straight Italian Open title in devastating style on Friday as the top seed crushed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-0 in the second round, while Ons Jabeur was defeated on her return from injury.

World No 1 Swiatek looked in exceptional form as she demolished Pavlyuchenkova in just over an hour to ease her way into the third round in Rome.

Losing finalist in Madrid last weekend, the Pole looked in great form in the tournament she won last year before going on to blitz the French Open, even though she is still shaking off a rib injury suffered at Indian Wells.

"I still may feel some discomfort, but it is really, really low. Even when I withdrew from Miami, the pain was low. It was just the risk of getting it worse that stopped me," Swiatek said.

"I wouldn't say my physicality is stopping me. I came back quickly and I kind of missed only one tournament. I think overall it's pretty positive."

The only real resistance from Pavlyuchenkova, who reached the final of Roland Garros two years ago, came in the final game of the first set, when she saved six set points from 0-40 down on her serve.

Swiatek eventually came through that game and swept Pavlyuchenkova aside in the second set, finishing the job against the serve with her first match point.

Fourth seed Jabeur fell 6-1, 6-4 to Paula Badosa as last year's finalist was eliminated in her first match back from her latest injury setback.

Ons Jabeur, right, was defeated by Paula Badosa. Getty

The Tunisian, who missed the Middle East Swing earlier this year to undergo surgery and also skipped last week's Madrid Open title defence and retired from the Stuttgart semi-finals with a calf injury, struggled to find her rhythm against the former