Germany’s Mona Barthel wasted little time getting through to the semi-finals at the Auckland Classic tennis tournament in Auckland.

Barthel, the eighth seed, beat Swede Johanna Larsson 6-2 6-1 in just 44 minutes on Thursday.

Larsson, who put out second-seeded German Julia Goerges in the previous round, took a 2-0 lead in the first set on the back of some unforced errors from her opponent.

But the 22-year-old Barthel found her groove to produce winner after winner on the way to taking the next nine games.

She will next face the winner of the all-Belgian clash between third seed and former Classic champion Yanina Wickmayer and the unseeded Kirsten Flipkens.

Barthel is backing up from her best year on the WTA tour.

She won her first title, coming through as a qualifier to beat Wickmayer in the final in Hobart, and ended 2012 with a career-high ranking of 39.