Novak Djokovic faced little resistance from Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot in a 6-0, 6-3 win at the Italian Open on Wednesday that stretched the Serb's unbeaten start this year to 33 matches.
Coming off an impressive straight-sets victory over Rafael Nadal in the Madrid Open final Sunday, Djokovic has a chance to claim the No. 1 ranking from the Spaniard if he wins this clay-court warmup for the French Open, which starts in 11 days.
Djokovic's streak trails only John McEnroe's 42-0 start in 1984.
Nadal was up next on center court against Italian qualifier Paolo Lorenzi, while Roger Federer, who has never won this tournament, could be challenged by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a night match at the Foro Italico.
In women's play later, top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki was to open against Australian qualifier Anastasia Rodionova.
For Djokovic to claim the top ranking, he needs to win the tournament and have Nadal fail to reach the semifinals. However, Nadal has won this tournament five of the past six years. Djokovic won the title in 2008, when Nadal lost his opener to Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Many spectators were still getting to their seats by the time Djokovic wrapped up the first set in 23 minutes, and the 141st-ranked Kubot was so overwhelmed that he fell to the clay on his backside after chasing down one too many shots during the opening point of the second set.
Kubot finally won a game to get to 1-3 in the second set when he landed a drop volley winner, drawing an applause from the crowd.
Djokovic never faced a break point, got 70 percent of his first serves in - with no double faults - and won all seven of his approaches to the net.
Overall, Djokovic has won 35 consecutive matches stretching back to Serbia's Davis Cup triumph in December, tying him for sixth in the Open era with Bjorn Borg (May-Aug. 1978) and Thomas Muster (April-June 1995).
Guillermo Vilas holds the Open era record for longest winning streak at 46 matches, established in 1977.
In another second-round match, Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina beat Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 6-2.
In the women's draw, Slovenian qualifier Polona Hercog eliminated 12th-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-4, 6-3 and Greta Arn of Hungary defeated Italian wild card Alberta Brianti 6-4, 6-4.
