MELBOURNE: Roger Federer emphatically extended his dominance over long-time rival Lleyton Hewitt to cruise into the Australian Open quarterfinals yesterday.

The Swiss top seed was at a different level to the big-hearted Australian 22nd seed in their 25th meeting as he rolled out a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win in one hour, 55 minutes.

Federer further underlined the gulf with Hewitt as he claimed his 15th straight victory but his next opponent Nikolay Davydenko has beaten the 15-time Grand Slam champion at their past two meetings.