Yer, Hewitt didn't play badly at all - he had the hunger and aggression he showed when he was ranked 1. Yes, he lacked a little in consistency, but that wasn't really why he lost.
Federer played a safe game, rarely going for pacy winners, but playing a slower ball into the spaces and following the lines. He kept changing pace too which, with the disguise had Hewitt on the stretch and once that happened, he had easy shots to put away.
Hewitt needed to go for more winners imo, as so many of Federer's return of serves were quite short + a few returns down the middle. Once the rally got going, you could almost feel Hewitt was going to lose it.