Lleyton Hewitt gained another big confidence boost in the lead-up to the Australian Open by comfortably defeating world No.6 Tomas Berdych at the Kooyong Classic on Thursday to earn himself a place in the final.
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Hewitt trailed 0-2 and had a fight on his hands to hold his second service game, but dominated from then on to win 6-3, 6-2 to advance to Saturday's decider, where he will play the winner of Friday's match between Marcos Baghdatis and Juan Martin Del Potro.
The Australian veteran won the eight-man Kooyong invitational event in 2011.
In the first match on Thursday, Canada's Milos Raonic beat Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 6-4, with a break in each set. Raonic said the performance was an improvement from his defeat in three sets to Hewitt on Wednesday.
In Thursday's third and final match, Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu will play Simone Bolelli of Italy. Both men lost their opening matches of the event.
