Hewitt sets up Federer showdown

Lleyton Hewitt [Images] warmed up for a fourth-round Wimbledon date with Roger Federer [Images] by hustling past Italy's [Images] Simon Bolelli 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 on Friday.

The Australian, the only other men's winner in the draw other than five-times champion Federer, barely broke sweat in the opening two sets on a humid afternoon as he easily outclassed Bolelli to reach the last 16 here for the fifth year running.

Hewitt made his intentions clear from the outset as he fired an ace to begin his account and ran out grinding winners from both flanks to frustrate Bolelli, who until this week had never won back-to-back matches on grass.

Bolelli finally showed some resistance in the third set, saving a match point in the 10th game, but the 2002 champion wrapped up the tiebreak 7-2 with a thunderbolt ace -- his 14th of the contest.

Earlier, Roger Federer successfully navigated the third round and the first week, steaming past French challenger Marc Gicquel 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 on Friday.

The world number one needs four more victories next week to set a modern era record of six men's titles in a row and on Friday's showing is in no mood to let the opportunity slip.

He captured the first set with a booming ace and the second, after two breaks of serve, with a screaming forehand winner.

With the 53rd-ranked Gicquel completely out of his depth, the Swiss master sailed through the third with two breaks to claim his 62nd grasscourt victory in a row.

Meanwhile, Russian number four seed Svetlana Kuznetsova eased into the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over fiery Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova who became enraged with the slippery court.

Kuznetsova, the highest-ranked Russian after the shock exit of Maria Sharapova, played a patchy and inconsistent game but it was enough to overwhelm her opponent who is ranked 109.

The big drama came in the first set when the Czech was infuriated by the sliding court conditions, was warned for an audible obscenity and shouted "Oh My God, this is unbelievable."

The players came off court, the umpire checked the surface and told them to play on -- only for heavy rain to interrupt the match minutes later. After the break, Kuznetsova finally triumphed in a messy second set in which she twice dropped her serve.

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