Hewitt battles past Safin

Hewitt needed all his battling qualities to down Safin

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World number one Lleyton Hewitt fought his way to a 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7-4) win over Russia's Marat Safin to reach the semifinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open.

Unbeaten on American soil since his U.S. Open victory last year and riding a two-tournament winning streak, the Australian's run of success appeared in danger when sixth seed Safin took the opening set.

The set was only the third surrendered by Hewitt in his last 10 matches.

"I tried to hang in there," Hewitt said.

"He played great in the first set ... wasn't much I could do about it. Second set, I feel like I lifted a couple pegs. Third set was just tough."

On a sweltering south Florida evening, Hewitt displayed his trademark grit as he fought back to level the match.

Federer was barely tested in his quarter-final

In the third set Hewitt was at his aggressive best, breaking Safin three times only to have the Australian Open runner-up break back each time.

After Safin had broken to level the set at 4-4, Hewitt immediately broke back, scampering to the net to fire a crosscourt winner.

Delighted by his effort, Hewitt screamed his approval, pumping his clenched fist and jumping in the air.

But the celebrations proved premature.

With Hewitt serving for the match, Safin demonstrated some determination of his own, spectacularly diving across the court to send a return just over the net cord and get the break back.

Two more breaks and the set went to a tiebreak won by Hewitt 7-4.

"Marat is a tough player to play," Hewitt said.

"He comes to the net a lot more now. He's more aggressive. I think he's becoming a more all-court player. Just really tough to find too many weaknesses in his game.

Safin thought a stronger service game might have helped him.

"He's No. 1 in the world. He's playing great," the Russian said.

"He has a very good baseline, he has unbelievable legs. Very good anticipation. Very fast. You need to serve much better against him than I served today. That made the difference in the third."

I played the big points well and served when I had to

Roger Federer

Hewitt will now meet 12th seed Roger Federer of Switzerland, who earlier in the day advanced to his first Masters semifinal with a 6-1 6-1 demolition of Romania's Andrei Pavel.

Federer, who was the beneficiary of Tim Henman's injury-enforced retirement in the previous round, has yet to drop a set in four matches in Miami.

The Swiss youngster was 3-0 up on Pavel after just five minutes and he faced only one break point in the entire match, which he saved with a kick-serve.

"I felt good right away, it just clicked today," said Federer.

"I played the big points well and served when I had to.

"It's good to have a match like this especially in this heat. I really couldn't ask for more."

In the wheelchair event, Britain's Jayant Mistry continued his progress on two fronts, beating Laszlo Farkas 7-5 6-2 to reach the men's singles semi-finals, as well as reaching the final of the men's doubles with partner David Hall.

They will face top seeds Ricky Molier and Martin Legner after beating Paul Johnson and Lahcen Majdi 6-0 6-2.

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Quarter-final results:

1-L Hewitt (Aus) bt 6-M Safin (Rus) 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7-4)
12-R Federer (Swi) bt A Pavel (Rom) 6-1, 6-1