Jennifer Capriati began her bid for a first Rome Masters title with a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 win over Maria Vento-Kabchi to reach the third round on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old American, seeded fifth, has never progressed beyond the semi-finals in the Italian capital but last week reached the semis in Berlin to prove her form on Europe's slow clay courts.

Capriati had beaten the Venezualan in each of their four previous meetings, and Vento-Kabchi showed no sign of reversing that trend as she struggled to cope with her opponent's heavy groundstrokes in a match lasting less than an hour.

"Maybe she was tired because she had a tough match (against Klara Koukalova) yesterday, but I'm not complaining," Capriati told reporters.

"These easy matches are good practice for what happens later in the tournament".

Capriati next faces 12th seed Paola Suarez or French qualifier Tatiana Golovin.