Four-time champion Roger Federer avenged his only loss of the season and world No.3 Rafael Nadal avoided another early exit on Tuesday at the ATP Indian Wells tournament.
It was in January that Andreas Seppi shocked Federer in the third round of the Australian Open but the Swiss star got his payback Tuesday winning 6-3 6-4 in 82 minutes on centre court.
It was Federer's only loss and it snapped his streak of 11 straight semi-final appearances at the Aussie Open.
"It was good to play him right away again and erase it from the memory," said Federer. "This was one of those matches where I was happy to get through and happy it was over."
Federer moves through to the round of 16 to play American Jack Sock, who beat Spain's Roberto Bautista-Agut 3-6 6-3 6-2.
Three-time champion Nadal avoided a second straight early exit from Indian Wells with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Donald Young.
Nadal will square off against France's Gilles Simon for a berth in the quarter-finals.
Last year, Nadal was eliminated in the third round by Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6 6-4. It was his earliest exit in the California desert tournament since 2004.
"Last year was 2014 and we are in 2015. Every year is different," Nadal said. "I played a lot of good tournaments here with good results.
"I feel very comfortable. I happy to be in the fourth round."
Nadal hit just one ace and made three double faults but he broke Young six times in the 80-minute match on centre court.
He hopes to improve his serve in the next round against Simon.
"It's true that I had a few mistakes with my serve," he said. "But then with a positive attitude in the next game, I was able to have breaks.
"I did what I had to do to get through, winning in straight sets. I need to serve a little bit better tomorrow."
In other men's matches Canadian sixth seed Milos Raonic downed Dolgopolov 7-6 (7-2) 6-4, Czech Tomas Berdych rolled over American Steve Johnson 6-4 6-2 and Simon took care of Michael Berrer, of Germany, 6-2 7-5.
Share
