Until earlier this
morning there had been a slight suspicion that Roger Federer was not exactly in
peak form, and that just maybe Lleyton Hewitt was a real chance if they did end
up clashing in their much anticipated US Open semi-final.

But that was before
Hewitt got one heck of a fright when unseeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen made him draw deep on his
reserves before easily winning the fifth and final set in a see-sawing 2-6 6-1
3-6 6-3 6-1 contest. It must have made Hewitt
wonder if he could take the weekend off.

It was a battle
littered with 45 unforced errors for Hewitt and while he paid tribute to the
Finn’s fighting qualities and claimed later “he’s a hell of player,” he can’t
be happy that his game looked far from finely tuned and lacked its usual
precision in returning from the baseline.

While Hewitt might
have been uncharacteristically hoping for Argentina’s David Nalbandian who has already warned
Hewitt in New York to stay out of his personal space, to defeat Roger Federer; the
defending champion confirmed his date with Hewitt when he convincingly
dispatched the Argentine in straight sets 6-2 6-4 6-1.

Interestingly, Federer
came into the match with a 2-5 record, although winning those last two matches,
and while by his own admission his form has been a bit scratchy at Flushing
Meadows in the earlier rounds, he was happy with the relative ease of today’s
win, and looks more than ready for anything Hewitt will throw his way.