A ruthless Petra Kvitova trampled on the hopes of the host nation with an emphatic 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Ashleigh Barty to reach her second Australian Open semi-final on Tuesday.
The double Wimbledon champion silenced home fans at a packed Rod Laver Arena, who had barely settled in their seats before the first set was over in a dizzying 27 minutes.
The eighth-seeded Czech faced stiffer resistance from Barty in the second but broke the former cricketer in the ninth game before sealing victory when Barty, seeded 15th, netted a return.
The Czech, who reached the 2012 semi-finals at Melbourne Park, returned to the last four of a Grand Slam for the first time since claiming her second Wimbledon title in 2014.
She will play unseeded American Danielle Collins for a place in Saturday's final.
Danielle Collins overcame a slow start to book a maiden Grand Slam semi-final spot at the Australian Open when the unheralded American rallied from a set down to overcome Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 on Tuesday.
Collins paid for an over-aggressive approach in the first set as 44th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova remained unflustered to break the American's serve three times before taking the opener when her opponent sent a backhand wide.
The 25-year-old Collins found her range in the second, converting her third set point to break Pavlyuchenkova and level the match, before the world number 35 bulldozed through the third set to wrap up victory in two hours and 16 minutes.
Collins advances to play the winner of the match between Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova and local hope Ashleigh Barty, who is seeded 15th, for a place in Saturday's final.
