In the 36th battle of the tennis titans, Roger Federer continued where he left in Melbourne, beating Rafael Nadal 6-2 6-3 in 68 minutes for his 11th quarter-final in Indian Wells! 4-time champion here was the dominant figure on the court, doing just about everything right like he did in the final 5 games of that amazing Australian Open final, and he left Nadal without any answer what to do on the court and how to end Roger's assaults. This was only their 3rd meeting after 2014 and Roger won all of those, for his biggest streak of wins against his nemesis, and Nadal's lead in the head to head meetings is now 23-13.

For the first time since Miami 2004 (their first match), these two giants have met before the quarter-final stage and Roger is now 2-1 in front in their Indian Wells encounters. They are now tied on hard court (9-9) and Roger is 11-10 ahead in the match outside the clay, where Nadal has a massive 13-2 score.

Federer was roaring right from the start, keeping the aggressive mode we saw from him in Melbourne and never actually letting Nadal impose his game. The dynamic of the points was completely on Roger's side, as he produced another masterclass performance from his backhand wing, moving Nadal around the court and creating the empty space for an easy execution.

Rafa couldn't even think about exploring that wing like he did many times before against Roger, and was under all kind of pressure on both serve and return. Federer hit his returns as early as possible, taking the time off from Nadal's shots, and he won 43% of the points in Nadal's games, the most against Spaniard since Indian Wells 2012 when he beat him 6-3 6-4.

Roger was painting lines from pretty much every shot, finishing the match with 26 winners and 17 unforced errors, while Nadal stood on 10-15, having no rhythm or room to turn the rallies into his favor. Roger had the clear edge in the shortest points thanks to his super aggressive approach and he stayed in touch in the longer ones as well, mainly thanks to his backhand that worked like a charm.

The first point of the game is usually very important, and it was Nadal who grabbed it in 13 out of 17 games, but Roger bounced back to win 8 of those games, saving one break point in his opening service game and never facing troubles on serve until the end of the match, especially in the second set when he lost just 3 points in 4 service games.

Nadal wasted two game points to get broken in the first game of the match, which is never a good sign, and it was clear what kind of tactics we could expect from Roger. Swiss star saved that break point in game 2 with a service winner and an amazing backhand return winner gave him a double break and a 4-1 lead after just 23 minutes.

Another outstanding forehand winner gave Roger a set point in game 8 and he converted it with a serve&volley, building a handful 6-2 advantage after just 34 minutes. Nadal failed to do anything on return in set number 2 and he couldn't keep the pace in his games, dropping serve twice to end his Indian Wells run before the quarter-final only for the third time in 13 appearances.

Roger made another step closer towards the win with a break in game 3 following a cross court forehand winner and he sealed the deal with another break in game 9, saving a beautiful backhand return winner for the final point, the one which demonstrates how he played during the entire match! In the quarter-final, Roger will face another stern test in Nick Kyrgios who beat a 3-time defending champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets, and that match is not to be missed by any means.

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