Hewitt storms into Japan Open final

U.S Open champion Lleyton Hewitt surged into the final of the Japan Open by trouncing American James Blake 6-4, 6-0 on Saturday.

Hewitt will face fifth seed Michel Kratochvil on Sunday after the Swiss player thrashed Slovakian Karol Kucera 6-0, 6-3 in the second semifinal at Tokyo's Ariake Colosseum.

Hewitt, who arrived in Japan fresh from leading Australia to their third consecutive Davis Cup final, extended his winning streak to 13 matches with a clinical display against the 109th-ranked Blake.

The Australian was taken to deuce in his first three service games, but a thumping forehand down the line broke Blake in the seventh game and Hewitt closed out the set with an unreturnable serve down the centre.

Although the match was given added spice after Hewitt allegedly made racist comments during his only other meeting with Blake in the second round of the U.S. Open, the Australian stuck to his task with quiet efficiency.

There was no chest-thumping from Hewitt, even after he finally converted his sixth break point at the start of the second set with a rasping forehand return which Blake barely got his racket on.

Hewitt's relentless pressure continued to force Blake into errors and a double break soon turned into a second-set clean sweep as the world number three wrapped up the match in just 64 minutes.

"As soon as I got up a set and a break, I really put my foot down," said Hewitt. "I've just come off the biggest month of my life tennis-wise and it's very tough for my opponents to beat me at the moment."

Meanwhile, Kratochvil needed just 62 minutes to end the run of the unseeded Kucera and reach his second ATP tour final of the year after finishing runner-up in Shanghai last month.

"Obviously my goal here is to win my first career tournament," said the world number 57, who will be hoping for better luck on Sunday than in his last meeting with Hewitt.

That was at the Australian Open qualifiers in 1996 when he was forced to retire with a back injury which sidelined him for eight months.

In the remaining women's semifinal, second seed Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand beat number eight Joannette Kruger of South Africa 6-3, 7-5 and will play top seed Monica Seles in Sunday's final.