Defending champion Novak Djokovic advanced to the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-2, 7-6(1) win over German Tommy Haas on Tuesday in Indian Wells. The World No. 3 will next face the winner between 16th-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka and American Sam Querrey for a place in the quarterfinals.
Djokovic won his two break points in the opening set, but was forced into a tie-break after making good on just one of his nine opportunities in the second set. He lost the first point of the tie-break but held the German off the board the remainder of the way, clinching the victory in one hour and 47 minutes after Haas hit a return long.
“[It was] better than the first match,” Djokovic said about his performance. “I think I played really well in the opening set, and then could have done the job a bit earlier. Had some break chances and didn't make a couple returns, and gave him a chance to come back into the match. So I was lucky, because it could go in the third set, and then who knows? Overall, I'm happy with the way I played, and hopefully I can continue.”
The Serbian, who made his Indian Wells debut with a first-round exit in 2006, has not dropped a set en route to his two final runs the past two years. He lost to Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the 2007 title match, and prevailed against American Mardy Fish in three sets last year.
Haas was looking to replicate his impressive showing last year in Indian Wells, when he posted wins over Andy Murray and Andy Roddick en route to the quarterfinals. The former World No. 2 falls to a 6-5 season record.
ATP World Tour Champion Rafael Nadal also advanced to the fourth round with a straight-sets win, dismissing Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 18 minutes. Tursunov held break point with Nadal serving for the match, but the Spaniard won the next three points to seal the victory.
The 22-year-old Nadal is attempting to reclaim the BNP Paribas Open title after falling to Djokovic in the semifinals last year, but will first need to defeat David Nalbandian of Argentina.
Nalbandian, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Serbian Viktor Troicki, leads the head-to-head series 2-0 with back-to-back wins in 2007 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Paris. Nalbandian is one of only three active players to have beaten Nadal at least twice and boast a winning record, along with Dominik Hrbaty (3-1) and James Blake (3-2).
World No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro went the distance in his third round match against No. 30 seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria, prevailing 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(2) in two hours. The 20-year-old is seeded to face ATP World Tour Champion Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, but will first come up against American wild card John Isner, who surprised former World No. 1 Marat Safin 6-4, 6-4 to extend his best showing at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.
Both del Potro and Isner achieved their best results this season at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Auckland. Del Potro, who won his first four ATP World Tour titles in successive tournament appearances last summer, captured the title while Isner reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier.
(From Website : http://www.bnpparibasopen.org/1/news/newsarticle_2632.asp)
