Nadal, Federer power into Indian Wells quarters

[March 14, 2019]  Second-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain and fourth-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland cruised into the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open with straight-set wins Wednesday in Indian Wells, Calif.

Nadal beat Serbia's Filip Krajinovic 6-3, 6-4, and Federer routed 22nd-seeded seeded Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 6-1, 6-4.

Federer is a four-time champion in the Southern California desert, and Nadal has won the event three times.

Neither of the veteran stars has lost a set through three matches at Indian Wells, avoiding the fate of top-seeded Novak Djokovic, who lost Tuesday in the third round to Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Nadal's reaction to Djokovic's early exit?

"That's tennis," the Spaniard said. "Is nothing new, and it's something that really happened a lot in the past. (It) is true that for the last 10 years (it) didn't happen very often, but it's normal. The difference between players ... is not huge, you know? It's small gaps. Anything can happen in this sport, and especially in these kind of events that top 50 players are playing."

Assessing his own play, Nadal said, "Good. Probably played a little bit worse today than yesterday. Maybe because of the conditions, windier out there today, but in general terms, (it was) a positive victory again. Happy the way I played."

Nadal saved the only break point he faced, and he converted three of his four break opportunities.

Federer won the first five games of his match. He also came through on the key points, winning all seven of the break points on his serve.

"I think (Edmund) probably struggled throughout a little bit," Federer said. "He never really got going. Conditions are tough with the glare, and the jump of the ball is sometimes hard to find the rhythm and timing."

Edmund said, "Playing Roger on the main court of the tournament, you always want to do well. Didn't help myself by basically having a bad start and going down early. Of course when you go down early against good and big players, it's always hard to come back."

Next up for Federer is a quarterfinal against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, who beat 24th-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3.

Nadal's quarterfinal foe will be 12th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov, who got past eighth-seeded American John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (1).

In other fourth-round action, 13th-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic defeated Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-3. Raonic next faces Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic, who advanced when Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka retired due to a back injury after losing the first set 6-4.

Kecmanovic, 19, entered the main draw as a lucky loser from qualifying.

In Wednesday night matches, seventh-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria topped Croatia's Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-3, and 18th-seeded Gael Monfils of France dismantled Kohlschreiber 6-0, 6-2.

Monfils prevailed in 59 minutes, never facing a break point and breaking Kohlschreiber's serve five times.

--Field Level Media

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