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Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal power through in straight sets at Indian Wells

Sport360 staff

12:25 18/03/2015

Four-time champion Roger Federer avenged his only loss of the season and world No. 3 Rafael Nadal avoided another early exit Tuesday at the WTA and ATP Indian Wells tournament.

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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.”

Canadian sixth seed Milos Raonic hammered 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.

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