(Reuters) - Italian Matteo Berrettini cruised into the Stuttgart Open last four on Friday after making light work of American Denis Kudla with a 6-3 6-3 win in just over an hour.
The 23-year-old world number 30, who beat second seed Karen Khachanov in the previous round, looked at ease on the grass court of the Wimbledon warm-up event, despite having won his two tour titles to date on clay.
He grabbed his only break chance to win the first set and his big serve never allowed his American any chance to break back.
He comfortably held serve throughout, firing 10 aces in total, and broke the American again at 2-2 to cruise to victory a little later with a superb forehand down the line on match point.
In his fourth semi-final this year, Berrettini will now face the winner of the quarter-final between Jan-Lennard Struff and Lucas Pouille playing later on Friday.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Alison Williams)