Novak Djokovic ended the Australian player's 12th attempt at capturing his national title with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 fourth-round Australian Open win today before a Rod Laver Arena crowd that included pregnant Australian actress Nicole Kidman and her country singer husband, Keith Urban.

While the two A-listers often canoodled during breaks, Hewitt, forced to stay up all night overnight Saturday to beat Marcos Baghdatis in five long sets, was in a very different mood. And Djokovic's sterling play didn't help.

Trying to become the first Australian since Mark Edmondson in 1976 to win the Australian Open, an often surly Hewitt twice hit balls well into the bleachers, once nearly hitting the only section of flag-waving Serbians in the arena.

At other times, his meek "C'mons" were meant to boost him from 15-40 down, and only seemed to put off the inevitable. Even his "Fanatics" support group shrunk to about a dozen noisy members at the end.

"He was very tired and exhausted from the Baghdatis match a few night ago," said Djokovic, who had to deal with a few hecklers during the match. "He's had some tough matches, and I knew that.

"I was nervous. But after I relaxed and tried to be aggressive, I was able to take control of the match."

Hewitt, who was up 4-2 and held break points in the seventh game, admitted he could have been mildly feeling the effects of his 4-hour, 45-minute all-nighter that didn't start until 11:47 p.m. local time.

"Yeah, a little bit ... I didn't feel too bad," said Hewitt. "But probably not quite as sharp as I would have liked to be."

When asked if tiredness had anything to do with the loss, Hewitt said: "No, absolutely not. He was too good tonight."

After winning the first set on a service break in the final game, the Serbian player raised his hands high in the air even before Hewitt's defensive backhand lob landed well wide of the court.

In the second, Djokovic overcame an early service break and in the fifth game, hit a backhand passing shot when Hewitt dared take a step toward the net to break the Australian for a 4-2 lead.

Djokovic then held in a wild seventh game that featured four aces, two double faults, a code violation to the Serbian player for racket abuse and a lengthy rally that ended with Hewitt hitting an attempted drop volley into the net.

Two games later, another set was in the bag. Hewitt saved two match points in the third set before Djokovic clinched it and advanced to a quarterfinal against No. 5 David Ferrer, who beat fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in another fourth-round match Monday.

Djokovic, who has not dropped a set here, is coming off a strong 2007 that saw him rise to No. 3 and advance to his first Grand Slam final, a loss to Roger Federer at the U.S. Open.

"It was the best year of my career," said Djokovic, whose brother, Marko, lost a junior boys match at Melbourne Park earlier in the day. "I didn't expect to rise so fast."

No. 19 Hewitt, a former No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion who has been working with former Federer coach Tony Roche for nearly a year, hopes he's not going in the other direction.

He first played the Australian Open in 1997. Hewitt, now 26, had his best chance in 2005, when he lost to Marat Safin in the final.

When asked whether his dream of winning the Australian Open was beginning to fade, he sarcastically answered: "This year it has."