Argentinean Guillermo Canas needed only two sets on Friday to oust seventh seeded Brazilian Ricardo Mello and book a spot in the semi-finals of the 380,000-dollar ATP Shanghai Open.
Tournament third-rank Canas had an easy time against Mello, winning 6-3, 6-4 even though the Brazilian has been playing some of the hottest tennis of the tour.
Mello, who climbed to world number 88 following his first ATP title at Delray Beach in the US two weeks ago and triumphed in his last 21 of 24 matches had no answer to a confident Canas.
The Buenos Aires native, who has grown stronger with each match and is currently ranked at 24, is looking for his sixth career ATP title after last capturing back-to-back tournaments at Umag and Stuttgart in July.
He has won 16 of his last 17 matches. His only loss was at the hands of 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick.
Later on Friday, Jan-Michael Gambill of the United States will face the tournament's second seed and last year's Shanghai Open runner up Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic.