With friends like Nick Kyrgios, who needs enemies?
A day after taking down world number one Daniil Medvedev, the Wimbledon finalist and Washington champion has run rings around Davis Cup teammate and "good friend" Alex de Minaur at the Montreal Masters, beating him 6-2, 6-3 in just over an hour.
It was the first singles showdown between the compatriots on tour and it was all over in 63 minutes.
Kyrgios won the first four games of the opening set in which de Minaur won scarcely more than half of his first-serve points.
The pair traded breaks to open the second set but 27-year-old Kyrgios would not be denied, breaking de Minaur on the third try in the third game and again in the seventh.
Kyrgios briefly appeared agitated when he gave up a break in the penultimate game but found his composure to get the job done in a little over an hour, breaking back to love in the final game.
The win will move Kyrgios, currently ranked 37th to de Minaur's 21, high enough in the rankings to be seeded at the US Open later this month.
It comes after his first trip to the Wimbledon final, which would be worth a massive rankings boost in any other year, failed to move him higher on the list because the ATP decided the grass-court major would not earn players points because Russians and Belarusians were prevented from competing.
"I did what had to be done. He's a hell of a player if you play to his strengths," Kyrgios said of de Minaur, who recently won the Atlanta Open after Kyrgios withdrew from the singles draw.
"He's one of the best players from the back [of the court] in the game. He's just so fast."
The pair were supposed to clash in the doubles tournament in Atlanta, but de Minaur (partnering American Francis Tiafoe) withdrew from their semifinal to focus on his singles tilt, handing Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis a walkover into the final, which they won.
Kyrgios has won 15 of his last 16 matches.
A day earlier he produced a serve-and-volley masterclass to stun Medvedev 6-7(2/7), 6-4, 6-2, saying the effort certainly took a toll.
"[It was] incredibly tough [playing de Minaur] after yesterday's big high playing Daniil," he said.
"The crowd was amazing. It's a day I'll probably never ever forget
"Today was really hard for me mentally to play Alex. We're such good friends and he's been having such a good career so far carrying the Australian flag.
"It's just tough mentally. It's never easy to play a friend like that, especially if they're an Australian."
Kyrgios next faces Poland's Hubert Hurkacz in his first Montreal quarterfinal at fourth time of asking.
Reuters/ABC
