Defending champion Karolina Pliskova has kicked off her Internazionali BNL d'Italia title defence with a strong win over fellow Czech player, Barbora Strycova.

Pliskova controlled the tie and struck 26 winners and broke Strycova four times en route to a 6-3, 6-3 win in just over an hour and 15 minutes.

She started the year with a title in Brisbane but since the restart, the No.2 seed has struggled to gain form so will hope on her return to clay that like last year, she can gain momentum.

As well as the aforementioned stats, she only dropped serve once and won 71% of her service points.

Anna Blinkova will be next up after seeing Aliona Bolsova in three sets 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 earlier in the day.

You can follow the Internazionali BNL d’Italia from Rome via TennisUpToDate LiveScores by clicking here! You can also check every day’s schedule of play here and prize money & points distribution here.

https://twitter.com/WTA/status/1306298045374427138?s=20

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