World number one Serena Williams crushed Italian Sara Errani 6-1, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the French Open in intimidating fashion on Wednesday.
The twice Roland Garros champion set up a meeting with Swiss 23rd seed Timea Bacsinszky, who beat Belgian Alison van Uytvanck 6-4, 7-5 in the other quarter-final.
Williams hammered 39 winners in a one-sided encounter against the diminutive 17th seed Errani, a French Open runner-up in 2012.
"I knew I had to start better today than the other days because she's a tough opponent who's got history here," the American told a courtside interviewer in French.
She had lost only two sets in eight victories from as many matches against Errani, but the Italian pushed her to the limit in their last encounter in the Fed Cup in April.
Williams had dropped the opening set in her previous three rounds but was quickly out of the blocks on Wednesday, setting the tone by breaking in Errani's first service game.
A brilliant backhand passing shot handed Errani an immediate break back but Williams was in the groove and dominated the rest of the opening set.
Errani upped her pace in the second as she looked quicker on her feet, but it was still not enough as Williams broke for a 4-3 lead and she finished it off on her fourth match point.
Bacsinszky keeps up winning run
Meanwhile, Bacsinszky toppled little-known Belgian in the most unexpected of quarter-finals.
Bacsinszky, seeded 23, produced a fearless brand of baseline tennis to became the first Swiss woman since Martina Hingis in 2001 to reach the last four at Roland Garros.
World number 93 Van Uytvanck, who was bidding to become the lowest ranked woman to reach the semi-finals of the claycourt major, barely had a chance to blink before she found herself 3-0 down in the first set.
Considering the ginger-haired 21-year-old had won only one grand slam match prior to her arrival in Paris, it was little wonder that she let the occasion of playing on the 10,000 seater Suzanne Lenglen Court get to her.
Once her nerves settled, she held her own but by then the damage had been done and Bacsinszky whipped a forehand winner to wrap up the set.
Cheered on by her idol Kim Clijsters from the stands, Van Uytvanck unleashed a string of gutsy shots to recover from 3-1 down to level at 3-3 in the second set.
Bacsinszky, however, broke in the 11th game before blasting a backhand down the line winner to seal a place in the last four.
