By Bill Scott Mar 16, 2010, 1:04 GMT
Indian Wells, California - Novak Djokovic emerged victorious from a struggle while Rafael Nadal walked through as two of the three top seeds reached the fourth round of the Indian Wells Masters Monday.
Second seed Djokovic was silently seething after losing nine straight games midway through his match with German Philip Kohlschreiber before recovering to pull out a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3) win.
Holder Nadal, seeded third and playing only his second match since withdrawing during the Australian Open two months ago with knee problems, crushed Croatian Mario Ancic 6-2, 6-2.
Number one Roger Federer will bid for the last 16 on Tuesday when he faces Marcos Baghdatis in a rerun of the 2006 Australian Open final won by the Swiss.
Djokovic frustrated himself as he let loose while leading a set and 2-0 when his form - patchy over recent weeks despite a title in Dubai - took an unanticipated dive.
He later rallied to save three Kohlschreiber match points in the 10th game of the final set to put himself back on the winning track.
'Losing nine games in a row is very frustrating,' admitted the 2008 champion. 'But I fought through. It's another win, so I try to look on the positive side, the things that I did well.
'It's a fact that I'm not feeling the ball 100 per cent, and I know that, and people who see the match, they know that. Look, it's a sport. You cannot always play your best.'
Djokovic had lost his last meeting with the 31st-ranked Kohlschreiber at Roland Garros last spring in straight sets.
As the contest went into a deciding tiebreaker after nearly two and a half hours, Djokovic pulled himself together to squeeze out the victory, his 15th this season against two defeats.
Djokovic managed 11 winners against 34 unforced errors, breaking Kohlschreiber four times. He advanced on his first match point.
'You just try to stay focused and work the things in the best possible way,' said the winner. 'It's one or two points. One point in a tight match, he easily could be the winner, and he would deserve it. But I managed to do it.'
Nadal barely needed an hour to overwhelm Ancic, playing his first ATP-level event since May 2009, after dealing with glandular fever that plagued him on and off for several seasons.
The 25-year-old Croatian lost to Nadal for the fourth time in five meetings, with the Spaniard never facing a break point and dominating throughout.
Argentine Juan Monaco defeated 11th-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-3 to end a run of form for the one-time world number one from Spain.
The defeat was only the second in his last 17 matches for the 30- year-old Ferrero, who exploded into form last month on clay with titles in Brazil and Argentina and a final in Acapulco - all in the space of three weeks.
In women's play, Australian eighth seed Samantha Stosur continued a run of form with a 6-3, 6-0 defeat of Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She next faces defending champion Vera Zvonareva, who beat Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-2, 6-3.
Unseeded Israeli Shahar Peer scored a minor upset as she put out ninth-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1.
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