Hewitt into Newport semis

Newport - Australian third seed Lleyton Hewitt advanced to the semi-finals of the $474 000 ATP Hall of Fame Championships with a 6-4, 6-4 victory on Friday over US sixth seed Steve Johnson.

The 33-year-old Aussie, seeking his third trip in a row to the finals of the grass-court event, needed just 78 minutes to secure a quarter-final triumph in his first career meeting with the American.

Hewitt will play for a spot in Sunday's final against American seventh seed Jack Sock, who upset US top seed John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).

Saturday's other semi-final match-up will send Croatian second seed Ivo Karlovic against Australian Samuel Groth, who upset defending champion Nicolas Mahut of France in the quarter-finals.

Hewitt, who won his first ATP title since 2010 at Brisbane in January, lost to Mahut in last year's Newport final and to Isner in the 2012 title match.

Results Friday from the $474,000 ATP Hall of Fame Championships (x denotes seed):

Quarter-finals

Lleyton Hewitt (AUS x3) bt Steve Johnson (USA x6) 6-4, 6-4

Jack Sock (USA x7) bt John Isner (USA x1) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4)