"I played really well and was aggressive from the start," said Hewitt, who said he was suffering from a cold and "was happy to get through today."
On Saturday, Federer and 32-year-old Marc Rosset, who moved from non-playing to playing captain, are scheduled to take on Wayne Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge in doubles.
Australia or Switzerland will host either Spain or Argentina in the Davis Cup final from Nov. 28-30.
In World Group playoffs, US Open champion Andy Roddick was upset by Dominik Hrbaty 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 but Mardy Fish salvaged a 1-1 tie for the United States against Slovakia when he beat Karol Kucera 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 in Bratislava.
Hrbaty, ranked 60th, dropped to his knees, broke into tears and circled the clay court draped in Slovakia's red, white and blue flag.
"When I started to return his service, that was the key," Hrbaty said. "I hope we will show the Americans where the small nation of Slovakia is."
Fish won an almost four-hour marathon in his Davis Cup debut, rallying against Kucera after a 30-minute power cut in the second set.
The Americans, the most successful team in Davis Cup history, must defeat Slovakia to remain in the 16-team top tier of the Cup.
In other playoffs, Austria took a 2-0 lead over Belgium; Morocco leads Britain 2-0; the Netherlands leads India 2-0; Belarus and Germany were tied at 1-1; and Thailand and the Czech Republic were tied 1-1 and Canada hosted Brazil.
Taiwan overcomes HK
Wang Yeu-tzuoo and Lu Yen-hsun defeated Hong Kong's John Hui and Brian Hung 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in Davis Cup doubles play yesterday to give Taiwan an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the third round of the Asia-Oceania Zone Group II. Taiwan's doubles victory, in combination with two singles victories by Wang and Lu on Friday, assured Taiwan of promotion to Group I next year. Two singles games between Taiwan and Hong Kong are still scheduled for Sunday at the Yang-Ming Tennis Center in the southern city of Kaohsiung.
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