Germany has one foot in Saturday's final of the Hopman Cup after Angelique Kerber made light work of Australia's Daria Gavrilova in their single's clash at Perth Arena.
Gavrilova started strongly, earning four break points in the opening game, but failed to convert any of them.
Not much went right for her from there.
Kerber quickly found her touch, hitting 10 winners to the Australian's one in the opening set to take the lead in just 23 minutes.
The Australian had more break point opportunities in the second set, but again failed to win any of them, losing 6-1 6-2 in 58 minutes.
Gavrilova said she felt off from the start.
"I felt as if I was half a second too slow, on everything, as well as I normally am. My intensity probably wasn't as great," she said.
"I felt I was trying. Chasing the ball is always easy for me, but I think my footwork wasn't as great."
Former world No.1 Kerber said she was happy with how aggressive she has been this week.
She didn't drop one set in wins over Gavrilova, Eugenie Bouchard and Elise Mertens.
"I think the last three matches I played good. All three were a little bit different, but I was trying to be aggressive and play my own game and it worked," she said.
"I am happy about the performance and how I was playing the whole week."
Germany needs to win the tie against the hosts to qualify for Saturday's final against Switzerland's Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic.
That means either Alexander Zverev beating Thanasi Kokkinakis in the men's singles, or winning the Fast4 mixed doubles.
The Germans have won the Hopman Cup twice, but not since Boris Becker and Anke Huber teamed up in 1995.
Switzerland is also chasing a third tournament title, and their first since Roger Federer and Martina Hingis held aloft the trophy in 2001.
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