Australian No.1 Alex de Minaur has continued his impressive unbeaten run at the ATP Next Gen finals, powering past Casper Ruud in straight sets to cruise into the semi-finals in Milan.

World No.18 de Minuar, who is the tournament’s top seed, smashed 23 winners in the 4-1 4-0 4-2 victory, which saw his Norwegian opponent eliminated from the round-robin event where sets are won by the first to take four games.

“I knew from playing Casper before that he’d dictate any short ball without a purpose,” De Minaur said after his win which was clocked at 61 minutes.

“The game plan was to play on my own terms, play aggressively, play different styles of tennis and it sort of worked.

“The goal I had was [to take] any half-chance, go up and back myself at the net. I’m glad I was able to execute and worked out today. I’m looking forward to the semi-finals.”

The victory ensured Sydneysider de Minuar, 20, who finished runner-up to Stefanos Tsitsipas at last year’s tournament, has gone through undefeated 3-0 in round-robin play for the second successive year.

Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic later secured his semi-final berth with a 4-1 4-1 4-3 (6-4) win over Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

De Minuar had beaten Kecmanovic 4-1 4-3 (7-4) 1-4 4-0 in Milan the previous day.