Alexander Zverev reached his fourth ATP 1000 Masters semi-final of the season at the Madrid Open, cruising to a 6-1 6-4 win over Flavio Cobolli.

Zverev is only the fourth man to accomplish that feat at the first four events in a year since the format's launch in 1990, after Roger Federer (in 2006), Rafael Nadal (2010 and 2011) and Jannik Sinner (2026).

And that consistency was on show from the off on Thursday, as the clay-court specialist never looked like being troubled.

Zverev raced into a 5-0 lead in the opening set, applying constant pressure on Cobolli's serve while giving nothing away on his own.

And while the Italian was able to avoid the bagel, even his lone hold was a struggle, and Zverev then comfortably served the set out.

Cobolli put up a much better fight in the second set, registering three straight holds, but he was never really able to generate any momentum in the return game, and a single break in game nine was enough for Zverev to get over the line.

The German will face first-time ATP Masters 1000 semi-finalist Alexander Blockx, who ended Casper Ruud's title defence, for a spot in the showpiece match.

Data Debrief: Big-serving Zverev into another semi-final

Zverev has reached the last four at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo and Madrid this year, while he also made it to that stage at the Paris Masters last year.

With Sinner still present on the other side of the draw, he and Zverev are the first pair to both reach the semi-finals at five or more consecutive ATP Masters 1000 events.

And Zverev had his exceptional service game to thank, as he only dropped seven of 39 points while on first serve on Thursday.

Zverev's win was his 179th on clay courts at ATP events, the most by any German player in the Open Era.