Rafa battles for Fed date

Nadal's two-year winning streak on clay was in jeopardy as the Australian 16th seed dominated the first set, battering the ball past the Spaniard with alarming regularity to break twice.

Nadal hit back in the second thanks to an early break and was quickly ahead in the third before Hewitt battled back.

The Spaniard missed a chance to serve for the match at 5-4 and had to save two break points at 6-5 before finally clinching victory when Hewitt failed to put away a simple volley.

"Lleyton played very aggressively, keeping the ball low and that made it very hard for me," Nadal said after the match.

"I didn't play my best game today but I'm feeling very good about my form, I'm very happy to be in another final, and I hope to be at 100 percent and to win, but if I don't it won't make any difference to my confidence."

It was Nadal's 81st successive victory on clay in a run dating back to April 2005. He goes on to play world number one Federer in the final, after the Swiss beat Carlos Moya 4-6 6-4 6-2.