Lleyton Hewitt has raced into the semi-finals at the Brisbane International with an impressive straight sets win over Romanian qualifier Marius Copil on Friday.

The veteran Australian made light work of the world No.147 in their first meeting at ATP Tour level, winning 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 11 minutes.

The victory means the world No.60 will next play Japanese second seed Kei Nishikori after he beat Croatia’s Marin Cilic in a tough three-set encounter.

Hewitt, who hasn’t dropped a set in his three matches at Pat Rafter Arena, was far too good for surprise package Copil, who had reached his first ATP Tour quarter-final after a shock victory over France’s Gilles Simon in the second round.

The two-time grand slam champion started shakily, allowing Copil to snare an early break in the opening set but broke back straight away.

When Hewitt broke Copil again in the ninth game of the set he had all the momentum and raucous crowd behind him as he served out the set to love in just 36 minutes.

The second set went even smoother for Hewitt, who was part of a trio of Australians in the quarter-finals as well as Marinko Matosevic and Sam Groth.

He broke Copil to love in the Romanian’s first service game of the set and showed all of his trademark hustle to break him a second time late in the set.

Hewitt’s semi-final opponent, world No.17 Nishikori, had a tougher day at the office in hot conditions, taking two hours and 37 minutes to defeat a resilient Cilic 6-4 5-7 6-2.

It’s the second straight year Nishikori has made the semi-finals in Brisbane but he was wary about taking on an in-form Hewitt in front of a partisan crowd.

“I’ve seen the match today and a lot of the crowd helps him, too,” Nishikori said.

“Not easy if you’re playing against him. But that happens if you play in other countries.

“You have to stay calm. I try to enjoy the match.”

Matosevic and Groth reaching the last eight marks the first time in 10 years three Australians are in the quarter-finals of an ATP Tour event – emulating the feat of Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis and Todd Reid at the 2004 Sydney event.

Groth, who secured his quarter-final berth in the early hours of Friday morning following a three-set marathon against French lucky loser Pierre-Hugues Herbert, will back up against France’s Jeremy Chardy before Matosevic takes on 17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer in Friday’s evening session.