On Monday, at the Australian Open, Roger Federer defeated Tomas Tomas Berdych, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3,  while the home Grand Slam again ended in disappointment for Lleyton Hewitt. Less than 48 hours after being stretched to the five-set limit by studious Serb Janko Tipsarevic, Switzerland's world number one Federer turned the page on Berdych with a sixth consecutive win over the Czech.

Federer's win over Berdych, who destroyed his Olympic dream four years ago in Athens, was hard-fought, with the top seed recovering from a break early in the second set after lifting the first.

"Thank God he didn't win that second set because you never know what's going to happen, because I think he was the better player in that set," said Federer. "For me, that was a huge set to win and I benefited off it in the third."

Federer's win in just under two hours was his 40th at the Open. Federer will move to the quarter-finals to take up the next challenge against James Blake.

The American got into the last eight at a Grand Slam outside of his home US Open for the first time with a demolition of Croatian Marin Cilic, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Federer leads the American 7-0 including the 2006 Masters Cup final in China.

The Australian Lleyton Hewitt ran out of puff after his 4:40 am finish in the previous round on Sunday against Marcos Baghdatis, falling to third seed Novak Djokovic in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.

The Serb will face off against David Ferrer in the quarter-finals after the Spanish fifth seed put out compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

"Lleyton plays his best at the Open, he's very motivated to win," said Djokovic, who ended with 13 aces. "I got down a break in the first set and was very very very nervous. But I had luck in the set.