Third seed Novak Djokovic ended the hopes of home favourite Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open, beating the former world number one 7-5 6-3 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

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The Serbian recovered from a nervy start to clinch victory in two hours, 26 minutes and set up a last-eight clash with fifth seed David Ferrer of Spain.

Hewitt's previous match had ended at 4.33am on Sunday morning but he showed no signs of fatigue as he broke to lead 4-2 in the first set, only for Djokovic to hit back and win it.

Hewitt, in his 12th Australian Open, gave himself hope when he broke early in the second set but Djokovic struck back and stormed through the second set and into a 5-2 lead in the third.

The Serb squandered two match points as he was broken when serving for the match, but he broke Hewitt in the next game to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

Ferrer ground down fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-1 to reach the last eight in Melbourne for the first time.

Ferrer proved the more consistent player in a gruelling tussle littered with long baseline rallies.

Ferrer, a semi-finalist at last year's US Open, twice needed treatment on a leg injury against former French Open champion Ferrero but clinched victory on his first match point to end a contest lasting just over three hours.

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Reuters