Federer lies in wait for edgy Hewitt

There were ominous signs for Australian Lleyton Hewitt at the US Open on Thursday.

While the third seed fiddled his way to a five-set quarter-final win over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, his semi-final opponent Roger Federer (right) made 11th seed David Nalbandian look like a park player.

Defending champion Federer thra-shed the Argentine who once held a 5-0 win-loss record over him 6-2 6-4 6-1 in his most impressive display of the tournament so far.

"I played great, that's exactly how it should be at this stage of the tournament," said the Swiss top seed. "I found some great rhythm against David. I'm surprised it went so quick."

Time flies, of course, when you're having fun and Federer was detained for a mere 100 minutes on Ashe Court.

The days when Nalbandian, whose last win over Federer was in the 2003 fourth round at Flushing Meadows, held the upper hand in their rivalry are long gone.

The match, played out at the scene of Andre Agassi's dramatic five-set win over James Blake the previous evening, had the air of a practice match by comparison, despite Nalbandian going a break up in both the first two sets.

Federer reeled off the required winners to break back each time, and a fizzing backhand that sealed the second set prompted Nalbandian to smash his racquet in half - although he even needed two attempts to achieve that.

Late night

Federer admitted he had foregone an early night on Wednesday in order to watch Agassi's staggering comeback from two sets and a break down to win against Blake.

"I was up myself until 1.30. Maybe it wasn't the best preparation but I enjoyed it," smiled the Wimbledon champion who has now won 33 consecutive hardcourt matches, one short of Pete Sampras's professional era record.

He has also won an astonishing 69 of his last 72 matches and in a tournament fat with five-set encounters, has only dropped a single set himself so far.

Hewitt meandered through to the semi-finals with a disjointed 2-6 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-1 win over Nieminen, almost as if he wanted to delay having to contemplate playing Federer again for as long as possible.

The Swiss demolished Hewitt 6-0 7-6 6-0 in last year's final and has won their last eight matches, six of them in straight sets including their 2005 Wimbledon semi-final.

"I was just struggling a little bit with my movement," said Hewitt. "I just felt a step slower, a bit sluggish out there. It was patchy."

Nieminen was making history as the first Finn to appear in the quarter-finals of a grand slam. The left-hander caught Hewitt cold in the first set, his varied pace of shot disrupting the Australian's rhythm on a half-full Arthur Ashe Court.

The world number 57, however, was eventually out-manoeuvred by the 2001 champion who won the last two sets with relative ease.

"I was a little bit surprised that he didn't feel so confident on the court," said Nieminen. "I felt many times that I could win this match. But he played the important points better in the end."

Late results: Women's SF - Pie-rce bt Dementieva 3-6 6-2 6-2. Men's Doubles final - B. Bryan/M. Bryan bt J. Bjorkman/M. Mirni 6-1 6-4.