Madrid - World No 7 Simona Halep reached her first final of the season in comprehensive fashion with a 6-2, 6-0 thrashing of Australian Sam Stosur at the Madrid Open on Friday.
Halep will face Dominika Cibulkova in Saturday's final after the Slovakian celebrated her 27th birthday in style with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of American qualifier Louisa Chirico.
Former US Open champion Stosur managed just 13 points in the final 10 games having led the first set 2-1 as Halep showed the type of form which saw her reach No 2 in the world last year.
Cibulkova made the most of Chirico's inexperience on her first WTA semi-final as she dominated the world No 130 throughout to seal victory after just an hour on court.
Results from the ATP Madrid Masters and WTA Madrid Open on Friday (x denotes seeding):
Men
Quarter-finals
Andy Murray (GBR x2) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE x8) 6-3, 6-2
Kei Nishikori (JPN x6) bt Nick Kyrgios (AUS) 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/1), 6-3
Rafael Nadal (ESP x5) bt Joao Sousa (POR) 6-0, 4-6, 6-3
Women
Semi-finals
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) bt Louisa Chirico (USA) 6-1, 6-1
Simona Halep (ROM x6) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS) 6-2, 6-0