Kei Nishikori's strong pre-Australian Open form has continued, the Japanese star demolishing world No.40 Jeremy Chardy to reach the Brisbane International final.
The world No.9 won 6-2 6-2 at Pat Rafter Arena on Saturday to set up a decider against Daniil Medvedev as he bids for his first title in almost three years.
Second seed Nishikori complemented his accurate serve by pouncing on the misfiring Frenchman, who took just a third of points on his second serve.
Chardy's high unforced error count (26-8) was also punished as Nishikori, who beat former world No.3 Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals, won through in 66 minutes.
"Today's match was almost perfect, I would say. Serve and return was phenomenal," Nishikori said.
"I think he was missing a little bit more than last couple matches.
"But, yeah, I played very solid."
The sets played out similarly, reaching 2-2 before 2017 finalist Nishikori broke twice in each.
The 29-year-old is vying for his first title since the Memphis Open in February 2016.
He will head in as favourite on Sunday against 16th-ranked Medvedev, although the 22-year-old put on a serving clinic of his own to press his title claims in a 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 defeat of French veteran Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The emerging Russian lost just 10 points on serve all match as Tsonga couldn't back up his fine quarter-final defeat of Alex de Minaur a night earlier.
