If anyone is going to stop Madison Keys from taking the 2025 ASB Classic title, they will have to be at their very best.

The top seed gave another impressive exhibition on Thursday, with a 6-1 6-2 demolition of Jaqueline Cristian to move into the quarter-finals. In terms of clean hitting, pure power and game strategy, no one has matched what the 29-year-old American has brought so far.

There is a long way to go, but Keys seems confident, composed and focused in her first visit to Auckland in more than a decade and is improving with each match. World No 85 Cristian is no mug – the Romanian was on the cusp of the top 50 midway through last year and has a solid game off both wings – but she was blown away in the 67-minute contest.

Keys grabbed five breaks and was almost impeccable on serve, broken only once, early in the second set after a 45-minute rain delay. Her returns were superb. Whatever Cristian tried, there was an answer, often hitting the lines or either corner. And the American’s serve was again metronomic. She dropped only one point in the opening set when her first serve landed and didn’t really relent in the second.

The pair had split their previous two contests, with the 26-year-old Romanian prevailing in the most recent, over three sets on clay in the United States. They had a similar age profile – and had turned professional around the same time – but the gulf in experience was vast. While the European had played just over 100 tour-level matches, Keys had accumulated more than 500, including six grand slam semi-finals and the 2017 US Open final.

That showed on Thursday. The first set was over in 32 minutes. Cristian started well – but was gradually overwhelmed by the sheer power produced from the other end of the court. She survived two break points at 1-2 – not helped by an unfortunate net cord – but gave up the third with a double fault.

That gave Keys momentum and she wasn’t looking back. A sizzling return down the line from a decent serve gave her a second break and a 5-1 lead as she found her timing. The American’s mastery was shown at the set point. Keys was pushed out of court – managing a superb retrieval – before producing a crunching winner, despite being off balance.

There was more early in the second set, with one of the best returns of the tournament, cutting the lines deep to the far corner, leaving Cristian shaking her head, given the serve had been decent.

After a brief rain break Keys broke for 2-1, her confidence shown by an angled drop shot from well behind the baseline, before a round of heavier showers saw play suspended again.

Cristian took advantage of the stoppage, forcing her first break of the match. But any momentum didn’t last long, broken back immediately, as Keys found her range. The rest of the set was a procession, with Keys converting her first match point with a crisp ace.

Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics’, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.