When Jannik Sinner is hot he's hot as Felix Auger-Aliassime found out at the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals.
The world No.1 extended his winning run on hard courts to 25 matches on Thursday with a ruthless dismissal of the Canadian to reach the tournament semi-finals.
Playing in his first tournament since lifting his fourth grand slam title at Wimbledon, the defending champion powered to a 6-0 6-2 victory over Auger-Aliassime.
Auger-Aliassime had won both his previous matches against Sinner but could offer little resistance here, with the Italian beginning and ending the contest with runs of six games in a row.
Sinner has not been beaten on his favourite surface since a loss to Carlos Alcaraz in Beijing in early October last year.
He will now face the winner of giant-killer Terence Atmane and No.7 seed Holger Rune for a place in the final.
French qualifier Atmane earned the biggest win of his career by stunning American fourth seed Fritz 3-6 7-5 6- to earn his first Masters 1000 quarter-final berth.