Hewitt reached his first semi-final of the year

Australia's Lleyton Hewitt strolled past Spain's Alex Corretja 6-4 6-2 to reach his first semi-final of the season.

World number one Hewitt, who lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open and whose only other competition since was the Davis Cup tie against Britain last month, was impressive in the fast conditions.

The 22-year-old will play in-form American Taylor Dent for a place in the final after the 21-year-old eased past Spain's David Sanchez 6-1 6-3.

Hewitt broke the 28-year-old Corretja early and wrapped up the first set quickly before easing to victory in search of his second Scottsdale title after winning this event in 2000.

"I'm getting better, that's the main thing," said the two-time Grand Slam winner.

"That's what I wanted, that's why I came here.

"Hopefully, I can keep it going. Even if something went wrong in the next couple of days, I still wouldn't be disappointed with having come here."

In other quarter-final action, Australia's Mark Philippoussis beat Argentine third seed David Nalbandian despite a disastrous first set.

Philippoussis, who hit the mark with a lowly 29% of first serves, was broken three times by the Wimbledon finalist.

But he recovered to record a 0-6 6-3 6-4 victory and set up a semi-final with Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina, who disappointed the home crowd by beating America's James Blake 3-6 6-4 6-4.

Delray Beach International, Florida

American qualifier Robert Kendrick continued his remarkable run with another straight-sets victory.

Just three days after claiming his first ATP Tour match victory, Kendrick posted a 6-0 6-4 win over Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus to reach his first semi-final.

"It's a great win and I wasn't too nervous out there," Kendrick said.

"I had a few opportunities at the beginning of the second set where I had the chance to go up 2-0 and blew it. That was a little disappointing, but I'm happy to get the win."

On Saturday, Kendrick will face compatriot Jan-Michael Gambill after the fourth seed reached the last four for the third straight year with a 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-0 triumph over Brazil's Flavio Saretta.

Saturday's other semi-final pits third seed Marcelo Rios of Chile against Mardy Fish of the United States.

Rios, who accepted a wild card to play here, defeated South Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee 6-3 6-4 while Fish beat Spain's Alberto Martin 6-3 6-3.