Lleyton Hewitt cruised into his sixth straight US Open quarter-final with a straight-sets win over Slovakian 15th seed Dominik Hrbaty.

The third-seeded Australian will play unseeded left-hander Jarkko Nieminen on Thursday (Friday morning AEST) for a place in the semi-finals after requiring just 94 minutes to cast aside an error-prone Hrbaty 6-1 6-4 6-2.

Earlier, 24-year-old Nieminen defeated Spain's Fernando Verdasco 6-2 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 to become the first Finnish player to make a grand slam quarter-final in the open era.

Hewitt has beaten Nieminen in both their previous career meetings and another victory over the world No.57 will likely thrust him into a semi-final showdown with defending champion Roger Federer.

Federer, with a 67-3 win-loss record in 2005, faces German Nicolas Kiefer in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.

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