Australian tennis hopes have ended again for another year with Lleyton Hewitt smacked out in the fourth round of the Australian Open by third seed Novak Djokovic in an nail biting match.
The young Serbian won through 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 and will next face Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer, who beat Heineken Open finalist, Juan Carlos Ferrero in four sets.
Hewitt says despite his 4:30am finish on Sunday, fatigue was not a factor in the loss.
The Serbian recovered from a nervy start to clinch victory in two hours, 26 minutes and set up a last-eight clash with fifth seed David Ferrer of Spain.
Hewitt's previous match had ended at 4.33am on Sunday morning but he showed no signs of fatigue as he broke to lead 4-2 in the first set, only for Djokovic to hit back and win it.
Hewitt, in his 12th Australian Open, gave himself hope when he broke early in the second set but Djokovic struck back and stormed through the second set and into a 5-2 lead in the third.
The Serb squandered two match points as he was broken when serving for the match, but he broke Hewitt in the next game to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
Ferrer ground down fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-1 to reach the last eight in Melbourne for the first time.
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