By Dustin Dow
Enquirer staff writer

MASON - The headlines at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters largely have ignored Lleyton Hewitt this week.

The focus instead has been on Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi's runs, and top-seeded Roger Federer's first-round loss. Even Hewitt's round-of-16 match Thursday against Tim Henman was played on the Grandstand Court rather than Center Court at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Yet after cruising past Marat Safin 6-4, 6-4 Friday in the quarterfinals, Hewitt has shown himself to be the steadiest performer among the semifinalists.

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• Agassi shows he's still got it • Agassi in top form in straight-set victory • Hewitt rolls under radar • Real Roddick surfaces vs. Haas this time • No job security in success • No game or bet too small for Robredo • Masters results, schedules

"With the field you have, the last few matches I've beaten guys that are world-class players," Hewitt said. "They're capable of beating anyone, and I've beaten all three of them. That's more satisfying at the moment."

Entering his 1 p.m. match today against Tommy Robredo, Hewitt is the only remaining player who hasn't lost a set during the tournament. In fact, his serve has been broken just once in 38 service games. Coming into the tournament, Hewitt had won just 78 percent of his service games for the year.

Hewitt made just 42 percent of his first serves against Safin, but still he did not lose a service game.

"I served extremely well this whole week apart from today's match," Hewitt said after defeating Safin in one hour, 23 minutes. "Today I didn't serve great, but I was able to back it up with the first hits. My second serve held up well. I didn't give him a lot of opportunities to get to the first hit in, which is what he loves to do."

Hewitt did more than take away Safin's opportunities; he forced his Russian opponent to become downright frustrated.

"When I play Marat, I just try to make him play that one extra shot," Hewitt said. "Try to move him around as much as possible."

After losing a point and facing set point in the first set, Safin threw his racket against the sideboard lining Center Court. He then went to his bag to change rackets and bent the old racket, breaking it in half. Chair umpire Lars Graff issued a warning to Safin for the action.

Later, Safin argued a line call with Graff after Hewitt won a point that ESPN replays indicated should have gone to Safin. Graff ruled that a Hewitt forehand shot caught the baseline, while Safin thought it was out. The call gave Hewitt a 30-0 lead in the game, which he went on to win, evening the second set at 1-1.

"After the match, you're going to see that on TV and come to me and say, 'OK (it was out),' " Safin told Graff.

During a post-match interview, Safin said: "The ball was out. It was quite obvious. Not even close. But I'm not blaming (Graff). I just want to prove my point. ... So he can apologize to me."

"He gets frustrated if he makes an easy mistake or hits a double fault or gets a bad line call," Hewitt said of Safin. "That's Marat."

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E-mail ddow@enquirer.com