Daniil Medvedev has marched into the final four at the Adelaide International, brushing aside fellow Russian Karen Khachanov to continue to his impressive Australian Open build-up.
Medvedev is looking to relaunch his bid for the world No.1 ranking in Australia, where he was beaten in the Open final last year by Rafael Nadal in an epic five-set encounter that lasted more than five hours.
The 26-year-old spent four months in 2022 as world No. 1 but only managed two titles and finished the year with four consecutive losses.
Now ranked world No.7, Medvedev showed signs of his best at Memorial Drive, accounting for 20th-ranked Khachanov 6-3 6-3.
He has yet to drop a set in Adelaide, where he is the third seed, and will meet the winner of the match between top seed Novak Djokovic and Canada's Denis Shapovalov who square off later on Friday.
Medvedev broke Khachanov in the seventh game of the first set, winning three successive games to wrap things up in style.
Khachanov got a break in the second to lead 3-1 but Medvedev roared back to claim a convincing victory.
"It's never easy to play your compatriot," Medvedev said in an on-court interview.
"I'm happy that I managed to really raise my level, especially in the end of both sets, and really happy to be through to the semis."
The 2021 US Open champion, Medvedev had his first Australian Open final loss that year, going down to Djokovic in straight sets.
He said he felt he was building into another strong campaign at Melbourne Park where he could hopefully go one better and win a second grand slam title.
"For sure I played well last year and I'm playing well right now," Medvedev said.
"To be honest, that's all that matters - in order to win a slam or be in the final you have to be at your best for seven matches.
"I managed to do it once and I was really close last year, and that's what I'm going to try to do again in a few weeks in Melbourne."
In other matches on Friday, American Sebastian Korda upset Italian sixth seed Jannik Sinner 7-5 6-1, while Australia's Alexei Popyrin suffered a three-set quarter-final loss to Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.
Nishioka won 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (8-10) 6-2 and will face Korda, the son of former Australian Open champion Petr Korda, in the last four.
