Simona Halep eases through in Rome

Simona Halep has reached the third round of the Italian Open thanks to a convincing straight-sets victory over Alison Riske.

The world number two broke her opponent's serve twice in the opening set to move into a 5-1 lead before Riske clawed one of the breaks back. However, Halep remained steady from there to close it out 6-3.

The Romanian was even more dominant in the second as she overwhelmed the American to seal her progress 6-3 6-0 with just over an hour played.

Halep will now face either Venus Williams or Elina Svitolina for a place in the quarter-finals.