Ronnie O'Sullivan stretched his unbeaten run to 11 matches as he closed in on a second ranking title at the Citywest Irish Masters in Dublin tonight.
O'Sullivan reeled off five frames without reply to defeat Matthew Stevens 6-2 and complete an unhappy day for the Welsh professionals.
The world number one meets Paul Hunter for a place in Sunday's final after the British Open champion from Leeds knocked out Mark Williams 6-1 in the opening quarter-final.
And while Hunter played well enough he will need to step up to another level to prevent O'Sullivan stretching his 100 per cent run to 12 matches.
Hunter's win also deprived the punters of a showdown between feuding cuemen Williams and O'Sullivan.
Indeed, O'Sullivan was in no mood to drop his war of words with Williams as he cantered into the last four.
"I would have looked forward to the prospect of playing Mark," said the world number one.
"It would have been another challenge for me. It's been a tough week with a lot of stuff that's come out in the press.
"I feel I have been misinterpreted and the things from my book blown out proportion. If you read what I put in I was quite complimentary to Mark.
"But he clearly doesn't like me. The things he said actually confirmed what I thought he thought of me."
O'Sullivan is now just two wins away from becoming only the ninth player to win back-to-back ranking events.
Stevens, in his first quarter-final since last season's world championship, started promisingly enough by winning two of the first three frames.
The signs were there though that O'Sullivan was in good nick as he compiled a break of 106 in frame two.
After the interval Stevens was a virtual spectator as the 'Rocket' fired in breaks of 81, 66, 50 and 64 to lead 5-2, scoring just nine points in reply.
A careless shot on the black at the start of frame seemed to break O'Sullivan's concentration and the Welshman had chances to extend the match.
Instead, he wasted several good opportunities on the final colours and O'Sullivan finally finished the job.
PA