Alex de Minaur saved his best for last with a dominant 4-1 4-0 4-2 victory over Norwegian Casper Ruud in his final Group A match at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.
The emphatic win sees the top seed qualify for the semi-finals with a perfect 3-0 record for the second straight year.
De Minaur dropped a set in each of his earlier matches against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Miomir Kecmanovic.
But the world No.18 was in a hurry to get off the court on Friday morning (AEDT).
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He overpowered Ruud from the baseline and continued to show his class at the net, winning eight games in a row to take the opening two sets.
Ruud put up more of a fight in the third set but the Sydney-sider, who lost last year’s final to Stefanos Tsitsipas, soon sealed victory to put the rest of the field on notice.
“The game plan was to play on my own terms, play aggressively, play different styles of tennis,” De Minaur said.
“… I’m glad it worked out today. I’m looking forward to the semi-finals.”
Kecmanovic was the other player to advance from Group A after a straight-sets victory over Davidovich Fokina in the second match on day three.
De Minaur will learn his semi-final opponent later on Friday morning at the completion of the final two Group B matches.
American Frances Tiafoe plays Sweden’s Mikael Ymer from 5.30am (AEST) before Frenchman Ugo Humbert and Italy’s Jannick Sinner complete the round robin phase of the tournament.
