Portugal's Joao Sousa has crushed Cypriot world No.36 Marcos Baghdatis 6-1 7-5 to reach the final of the Auckland Classic tennis tournament.
Heavily favoured heading into the match, the 2006 Australian Open finalist simply couldn't get his game going in Auckland and won barely a quarter of return points.
Service was also a major sore point as the 31-year-old Baghdatis notched five double faults and nailed less than half of all first serves.
The 27-year-old Sousa, meanwhile, played crisp shots from beginning to end and made his higher-profile foe do plenty of running at the baseline.
He roared out of the blocks, winning his first five games before serving out the set at 6-1, and held strong in the second set with Baghdatis breathing down his neck.
Ahead 5-4, Baghdatis had the chance to send the match into a decider but wasted a protracted deuce game, before being broken in the following game.
Sousa then served it out.
"I think today I played a solid match," Sousa said.
"Marcos is a very tough player, a very difficult player to beat, so I'm very happy."
He'll go on to play Steve Johnson or fourth-seeded Jack Sock in Saturday's final.
