Coria, the 1.75-metre Roland Garros semifinalist and champion at the Hamburg Masters on German clay two months ago, also approached an ATP speed record with his rout.

It took him just 41 minutes, four more than the year's fastest effort set last week in at the Swiss Open.

The only other runaway result on this scale was Sjeng Schalken's nil-nil over Christophe Rochus a month ago on grass in the Netherlands.

Second seed Coria neared perfection, winning 12 of the last 13 points, committing just six unforced errors and coming good on 24 of 26 first-serve points.

"I'm very content with this match," said the 21-year-old, now 26-5 on clay this season. "I was very solid mentally and used all of my advantages.

"I played very solid and took all of my chances. I stayed strong mentally and was very pleased with how I played."

Youzhny was still reeling after his hammering.

"Something like this can happen. I didn't have enough power. It doesn't matter if I lost 6-0, 6-0, or 6-0, 6-1 - I would have had to play unbelievable to beat him."

Coria will Saturday face a tough customer in left-handed Spaniard Feliciano "Happy" Lopez, who put out third-seeded Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 6-4.

The Weissenhof club has not been fertile ground for home hopes, with journeyman Tomas Behrend crashing to earth 6-3, 7-5 at the hands of sixth-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.

Gonzalez insured that the 28-year-old didn't repeat any of his earlier upset scenarios, when he defeated top seed Carlos Moya and followed up with a win over number 13 Max Mirnyi.

"It was an important win for me today, a match to get through," Gonzalez said after stopping the world number 98. "I was a bit tired since my match finished late last night and was glad to get through in two sets."

Spain's Tommy Robredo doubled up on Filippo Volandri as he hammered the Italian for the second straight week, winning 6-4, 6-2.

Robredo, who began 2003 with four consecutive first-round defeats, has now booked into back-to-back semis following his win in Bastad at the Swedish Open - where Volandri also lost to his rival in the quarters.

The world number 20 defeated the 21-year-old Italian in exactly one hour as Volandri began to lose confidence with mistakes creeping into his game.

"I was confident and played well today," said the Spanish winner. "I hope things continue for me like this. I'm in another semifinal and would love to continue. It would be great to reach my first final of the year."