Grigor Dimitrov left commentators “shocked and speechless” as suffered a double-bagel defeat for the first time in his career. The world No. 18 was seeking his third semi-final appearance at the Monte-Carlo Masters but he was blown off the court by Alex de Minaur.

The Australian, who is seeded eighth this week, needed just 44 minutes to send Dimitrov packing. It’s also the first time De Minaur has ever won a match 6-0 6-0, and he's now through to his second career semi-final at Masters 1000 level.

It was a horrible day at the office for Dimitrov, the No. 15 seed in Monte-Carlo. The Bulgarian had struggled in his matches earlier this week, dropping sets to Monegasque wildcard Valentin Vacherot, and to Alejandro Tabilo.

Dimitrov knew he needed to raise his level after advancing to the quarter-final. But things didn’t go to plan and he was handed the worst loss of his 16-year career.

De Minaur raced through the first set in just 23 minutes and continued his demolition job in set two as Dimitrov struggled to win a point and hit only one winner in the entire match.

The Monte-Carlo Country Club fell silent as the Aussie stepped up to serve for the match, and he sealed a shocking 6-0 6-0 victory with just 44 minutes on the clock.

Dimitrov made a swift exit off the court as the commentators attempted to gather their thoughts.

“Shocked is the right word, to be honest. I’m… shocked and speechless,” former world No. 21 Gilles Muller said. “We all knew that it was going to be a tough match for Dimitrov but we didn’t expect this.”

But it was all smiles for De Minaur, who wrote “clay dog” on the camera lens.

Asked whether he was aware that it was his first 6-0 6-0 win, he replied: “I did know that. In fact, I know that the only time I ever lost love and love myself was to Tommy Paul in the semi-final of US Open juniors! So yeah, it’s pretty crazy.

“With the troubles I’ve had at the start of my career on this surface, I didn’t quite understand how to play well on this surface and as the years have gone by, I’ve grown to understand the things I can do well on this surface to be a tough opponent and I’m very happy that I’m playing better and better.

“I just need to understand the court - clay-court tennis is not about hitting hard, powerful shots. It’s a lot about opening up the court, using a lot of variety, using angles, using height, different speeds, understanding the balance between being too aggressive and too passive.”

De Minaur will now face either Lorenzo Musetti or three-time Monte-Carlo Masters champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in Saturday’s semi-final.