CINCINNATI, Aug 8: Lleyton Hewitt crushed Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-2 on Saturday to set up a Cincinnati Masters Series final against Andy Roddick or Andre Agassi.

The Australian former world number one, sacrificing the chance of an Olympic medal to help revive his career, reached his first final for six months with a 53-minute victory over unseeded Spaniard Robredo.

Hewitt's play was full of his trademark counter-hitting and fierce refusal to give up any cause, but more unusually it also featured unusually potent serving. He has still dropped serve only once in the tournament.

Robredo, a 22-year-old with excellent ground strokes who has moved to the fringes of the world's top 20, had been hoping to reach his first Masters Series final but found the rhythm of the match disconcerting.

Hewitt made the first break in the seventh game, traditionally the most crucial time to do so, by winning a forehand to forehand exchange. He then served out for the first set in the most crushing manner, finishing it with a perfectly delayed forehand top-spin lob winner which invited his opponent to dash laterally across the net to cover a possible passing shot.

Instead the ball travelled at right angles to Robredo's movement. Hewitt made the killer break in the fifth game of the second set, relentlessly harrying and probing from the baseline and provoking Robredo into an over-ambitious faded drive on break point.

The mistake punctured Robredo's morale. Hewitt capitalised ruthlessly, winning 12 of the next 13 rallies and the match to move within one victory of his first title since triumphing indoors in Rotterdam in February.

MAURESMO IN FINAL