Kei Nishikori disposed of Australia's Bernard Tomic on his way to the Brisbane International semifinals. Canada's Milos Raonic found it tougher to advance on Friday.
Nishikori, Japan's rising tennis star, dominated Tomic 6-0, 6-4 in 58 minutes. He broke serve four times and lost just six points when serving.
Raonic, seeded third, is next for Nishikori, the No. 2 seed. He won the battle of the big servers, overcoming Australian Sam Groth 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) in two hours.
That match saw 37 aces — Raonic had 15 — and one break of serve, which went Groth's way in the second set. Raonic got the better of the third-set tie-break to win.
"I was thinking halfway through the match, really, last year in Perth, I swam with sharks," Raonic said in a post-match interview. "This was a little more stressful."
Nishikori was a U.S. Open finalist last year. Raonic reached the French Open finals and the semifinals at Wimbledon.
Roger Federer is the tournament's top seed, and his Friday play ended in an amazing 39 minutes. Australian wild card James Duckworth proved no match, losing 6-0, 6-1. It was a far better showing by Federer than Thursday's rusty, three-set opening win over John Millman.
"I had a great start to the match," Federer said. "I saved energy and stress and nerves.
"Yesterday was quite nerve-wracking and physically difficult because it was first match of the season. So I'm very happy I got it done quickly today."
Next for Federer: No. 4-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.
Brisbane is a key preparatory tournament for the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 19 in Melbourne.
Contributing: Sportal.com.au, Canada.com, Yahoo! Sports