by Greg Heakes
NEW YORK, Sept 8 (AFP) - The ATP's hottest player takes on the comeback player of the year as Lleyton Hewitt and Tommy Haas square off in quarter-final matches at the 17.8 million dollar US Open on Thursday.
They have met nine times dating back to 1999 with Hewitt having won four of the last six. This is also their fourth Grand Slam meeting and their second at the US Open.
"We have had some great battles throughout our careers so far," Haas said. "We are going to have some great rallies, some great points. It is going to come down to who wins the big points."
The 23-year-old Hewitt defeated Haas in the fourth round in 2001 en route to the Open title.
The second quarter-final on Thursday, pits two big servers against each other - defending champ Andy Roddick and Swede Joachim Johansson.
Hewitt, of Australia, has been in the finals of his past three tournaments, winning the last two at Washington and Long Island.
"At the moment I am happy with where my game is at," Hewitt said.
He is one of two men to reach the quarter-finals without losing a set and heads into the quarter-finals on a 14-match winning streak.
Hewitt said he is going to have to turn up his game a notch to beat Haas.
"He is a class player who has been in the top five in the world before," Hewitt said. "I have to do the small things maybe a little bit different against Tommy than you would do against guys ranked 50 or something in the world."
Germany's Haas, who is known for having one of the best backhands in the game, has returned to prominence this year after missing all of 2003 with injuries.
This marks his eighth appearance in the US Open and the first time he has reached the quarter-finals.
"I am playing some high tennis that I have been playing the last couple of weeks," Haas said.
"Obviously he (Hewitt) is playing great tennis, winning Washington and Long Island."
Of the top seeds remaining, Roddick has had the most comfortable passage to the quarter-finals. He has not dropped a set after facing two 18-year-olds in the opening rounds.
Roddick's serve has only been broken once so far and he served twice at an Open record 244 kph (152 mph) in his last two matches.
"The next match I play is going to be totally different than the four I've played so far," Roddick said.
"It's going to be a lot of serving, you know. I don't know how much time is going to be spent at the baseline actually trading ground strokes."
Johansson has only played Roddick once as professional but they met three times as juniors with Roddick winning all four matches.