ROME: Polish teenager Iga Swiatek crushed Czech ninth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 to win the Italian Open on Sunday. The 19-year-old reigning French Open champion took just 45 minutes to dispatch the 2019 Rome winner two weeks before she opens her title defence in Roland Garros.

Swiatek, ranked 15, claimed her third WTA title having followed her Roland Garros success with a win in Adelaide in January.

“I’m overwhelmed, at the beginning of this tournament I would not have dreamed of winning it,” said an emotional Swiatek, who will break into the Top 10 as a result of her run in Rome.

“When I was playing I didn’t even know what was the score. “When my coach told me it was 6-0, 6-0, I was, like, Really? Isn’t that a mistake? “The key is just to not to think about it and just, you know, play. “Because when you’re gonna think about the score, you can actually like ruin your mindset and ruin your attitude.”

Swiatek swept through the first set in just 20 minutes, allowing Pliskova four points, dropping just 13 in total throughout the match.

Pliskova tried to fight back in the third game of the second set, holding a double break to win the third game, but the Polish player ruthlessly snuffed out any return.

“From the beginning I felt that she may be a little bit nervous, and I wanted to use that and actually play as many games with that vibe as I can,” said Swiatek. “But it’s not easy to win the first set 6-0, because you always have in the back of the mind that your opponent may start playing better and they can change the tactics completely, and then you have to adjust and then you’re going to start worrying. “That’s why it was pretty fast at the beginning.”

“I will just quickly forget about today,” said Pliskova, the world number nine, who was playing in her third consecutive Rome final.