Hideto Tanihara was in dominant form during his WGC - Dell Technologies Match Play quarter-final clash with Ross Fisher at Austin Country Club.
The Japanese player is making his debut in the event held in Texas but he showed no signs of stage fright as he raced into a four up lead over Fisher after ten holes.
Tanihara topped a difficult round robin group that consisted of Jordan Spieth, Ryan Moore and Yuta Ikeda earlier in the week and came away with a 2 and 1 victory against 2009 and 2010 finalist Paul Casey in the first knockout round to set up an all-European Tour clash.
In the other quarter-final in that half of the draw, World Number One Dustin Johnson led three up over Alex Noren after nine holes.
Fisher had secured a place at the Masters Tournament earlier in the day when he defeated two-time Augusta winner Bubba Watson in the last 16 but he struggled to maintain that fine form.
A par at the first was enough for Fisher to take an early lead but he relinquished that advantage at the next with a double-bogey before Tanihara dialled in an approach to seven feet at the third to record his first birdie for the lead.
Fisher sank a 12-foot putt for birdie to restore parity at the fifth before a birdie-par-par-birdie run handed Tanihara the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth holes to storm into a commanding four up lead before the duo putted gains on the tenth.
Johnson birdied the first hole for the fifth time in five visits this week to take the initiative in his encounter with Noren before the Swede bogeyed the second hole to trail further behind.
A 28-foot putt for birdie at the third put the American three up before Noren hit back with an eagle at the sixth to cut the gap but Johnson restored the three up advantage at the eighth with his fourth gain of the round.
