Top seed Andre Agassi tore apart fellow-American James Blake 6-4, 6-1 to reach the $380,000 San Jose Open final for the third year running on Saturday.
Agassi will face sixth seed Davide Sanguinetti, who defeated unseeded American Justin Gimelstob 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in the other semi-final.
Winning his 11th straight match of the year, Australian Open champion Agassi was in devastating form from inside the baseline.
"He's the best player in the world right now," Blake said of Agassi.
"He played like that and I probably went for too much. I never played him in his so called prime, but he looks like he's in his prime now."
Agassi broke Blake to 2-0 in the first set, but the 23-year-old American broke back to 2-2.
The two engaged in a number of rapid-fire rallies that wowed the crowd. But with Blake serving at 4-4, Agassi held a break point and hammered at Blake's weaker backhand side until he found an opening in the corner.
The world number two won the set when Blake erred on a backhand half volley.
"It feels like if you don't play a perfect point you're going to lose," said Blake. "That's tough to deal with. He ran me around more in an hour than I'm usually run around in a three-set match."
Blake caved in after that and Agassi broke him twice in the second set -- the first time to 2-0 with a forehand winner, and the second time to grab a 4-1 lead when Blake missed a forehand. Agassi closed the match out at love.
"He (Blake) started to play bigger than he needed to and was taking too many risks. And he struggled on his first serve and that always hurt," said Agassi, who has won this title four times but lost in the last two finals.
HARDER TASK
If Agassi wins the final on Sunday he will only be 135 points behind world number one Lleyton Hewitt and could conceivably seize control of the top ranking next month.
Italy's Sanguinetti had a slightly harder task against Gimelstob in the other semi-final.
"I had to fight like a dog out there," Sanguinetti said.
The 30-year-old took the opening set after breaking Gimelstob to lead 3-2 when the 6-foot-5 American erred on a backhand.
Gimelstob charged the net relentlessly in the second set but was greeted by balls fired at his toes and Sanguinetti broke serve to grab a 5-4 lead.
The American saved two match points to take the second set, but world number 69 Sanguinetti regrouped in the third to pass his net-charging opponent brilliantly.
"He played better than I did," Gimelstob told reporters. "The balls just kept coming back and I made too many errors trying to be aggressive.
Sanguinetti has lost to Agassi in their three previous meetings.
"Everybody knows Agassi hits the ball harder than anyone and is a great athlete," Sanguinetti said.
"He's the best player in the world, even if he's ranked number two. He's at his peak, He's hungry and keeps winning."
