Russian Veronika Kudermetova and Belgian Elise Mertens secured a victory over Timea Babos of Hungary and Luisa Stefani of Brazil in their first-round match at the WTA 1000 doubles tournament in Rome. They won the contest with a straightforward score of 6/4, 6/2.
The encounter lasted for 1 hour and 19 minutes. This marked the first time these specific doubles pairings had competed against each other.
Match Statistics:
| Kudermetova/Mertens | Babos/Stefani | |
| Aces | 2 | 0 |
| Double Faults | 1 | 1 |
| Breaks | 3 | 0 |
| Total Points Won | 58 | 40 |
In the next round, Kudermetova and Mertens are scheduled to play against the team of Hsieh Su-wei (Chinese Taipei) and Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia).
Rupert Hartwell 
Adrian Whitmore