World number Novak Djokovic on Friday destroyed Lucas Pouille in straight sets to set up a mouth-watering men's singles final clash with Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic, who's bidding for a record seventh Australian Open title, took just 85 minutes to beat 28th seeded Lucas Pouille 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne.
In Sunday's final, the 31-year-old will face world number two Nadal, who himself is bidding to become the first man in the Open Era to win all four Grand Slam twice.
It will be their 53rd meeting on the tour, and eighth in a Grand Slam final. Only other time they met with the season-opening Grand Slam final was in 2012 when Djokovic escaped with the trophy after an epic five-hour and 53-minute clash (5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5).
In a one-sided match in Melbourne Park, the Serbian the Frenchman three-times in the opening set to start with a perfect 6-0 scoreline. He then broke Pouille two times each in the next two sets to complete the rout.
Operating at his best, the 14-time-time Major winner played a perfect service game match to deny even a single break-point chance to his opponent. But he got presented himself with 12 such chances, converting at 42 per cent (5/12).
Then, there were 24 winners against Pouille's 18. But the telling aspect of the match was in the difference of quality in the service. Djokovic won 84 and 87 per cent of his first and second serves, while also accumulating 33 and 65 percents of Pouille's first and second serves.
Yesterday, a ruthless Nadal toyed with first-time Slam semi-finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 in just 1hr 46min.
Greek 14th seed Tsitsipas had enjoyed a fairytale run to his first Grand Slam last four, including a win over Roger Federer, but found Nadal in ruthless form.
The Spanish second seed has not dropped his serve for an astonishing 63 straight games and has not lost a set on his way to the final.
