Defending champion Novak Djokovic has booked a fourth-round showdown with no.18 seed Feliciano Lopez at the BNP Paribas Open after a 7-5, 7-5 victory over 27th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber on Tuesday evening.
The top seed from Serbia, holder of four Indian Wells titles, improved his ATP Head2Head record against the German to 8-1 after the one-hour, 39-minute encounter.
Novak made a break in the fourth game and held for 4-1. Kohlschreiber fought back to level at 4-all, but the world no.1 put the pressure on his rival once again and capitalised on his chance in the 12th game for 7-5 after 46 minutes.
Djokovic kept that momentum going into the second set, breaking in the sixth game. He was serving at 5-3, but could not close it out. The Belgrade native was more successful on second attempt, converting his break/match point in the 12th game for 18th win in 2016.
“I was fortunate today to win in straight sets,” said Novak. “I allowed myself twice to lose my serve, when I was a break up in both sets. Especially in the second at 5-3, a 40/0 smash, an easy backhand, match points, got him back. But Kohlschreiber is an experienced player. He has played so many times on the big occasions, so he knows how to capitalise on the opportunities and come back to the match.”
Match statistics: aces (1-3), double faults (1-3), winners (16-17), unforced errors (23-39).
For a place in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event quarter-finals, Novak will face Lopez on Wednesday about 17:00 local time / Thursday about 01:00 CET (7-1).
The Spaniard defeated his compatriot, no.14 seed Roberto Bautista Agut, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (10), 6-4 after three hours and 16 minutes of play.
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