It was a comfortable passage into the Open de Nice Cote d'Azur final for defending champion Dominic Thiem, who cruised past Adrian Mannarino in straight sets.

Thiem needed a little over an hour to see off the world number 63 and book a place in the final against Alexander Zverev thanks to a 6-1 6-3 success.

The Austrian top seed is yet to drop a set at this year's ATP 250 clay-court event, and his confidence was evident in a first set which saw him break his opponent on three occasions.

It looked as though the second would go much the same way as Thiem earned three break points in the opening game, but Mannarino battled back to hold.

His respite was short-lived, however, as he dropped his next service game and an unrelenting Thiem saw out the victory when his opponent sent a backhand long on the second match point.

Thiem will now face Zverev, after the German battled to a three-set win over Joao Sousa, 6-4 4-6 6-2, to reach his first ATP singles final.