Spaniard Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer remained on course to meet in the final of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel as both men breezed through their quarter-finals.
Top seed and three-time defending champion Ferrer raced past Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-3 6-1, before Nadal followed suit by overcoming Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 6-1 7-5.
Ferrer was actually a break down early on in his match, but that was as good as it got for Lorenzi.
The world number four was particularly dominant in the second set, holding 100% of first-serve points and breaking his opponent three times.
Nadal will face face another Spaniard in the next round, Nicolas Almagro.
The third seed, himself a former two-time champion here, beat Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos 6-3 6-4.
The only man breaking the Spanish dominance was Italy’s Fabio Fognini, who beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 7-5 6-4 and will face Ferrer in the last four.
In the women’s draw, third seed Alize Cornet was pushed all the way by Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino before booking her place in the last four.
The Frenchwoman needed two tie-breaks to come from a set down and beat seventh seed Dominguez Lino 3-6 7-6 (12/10) 7-6 (7/2) in a match which took three hours and 33 minutes and featured 18 breaks of serve.
Cornet will next play play top seed Sara Errani of Italy, who overcame Holland’s Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-4.
The other semi-final will be an all-Spanish affair between second seed Carla Suarez Navarro and Silvia Soler-Espinosa, both of whom beat Italians to progress.
Suarez Navarro overcame sixth seed Francesca Schiavone 6-7 (5/7) 6-4 6-2, while Soler-Espinosa was a 6-2 6-2 winner against Karin Knapp.
