Federer eases through in Indian Wells

Roger Federer barely raised a sweat in brushing aside Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-1 6-1 in the Pacific Life Open third round yesterday. The Swiss world number one, back in action at Indian Wells after recovering from a recent viral problem, outclassed his opponent in a match that lasted 53 minutes on the Stadium Court. "I am feeling good and winning 6-1 6-1 there's not much wrong with me," a smiling Federer said in a courtside televised interview. "I'm very happy with the way I played today." The top seed, wo had competed in only two tournaments this season after succumbing to mononucleosis (glandular fever) at the end of last year, broke Mahut twice to sweep through the opening set. Dominating every aspect of the match, Federer again broke the Frenchman in the third, fifth and seventh games of the second to book his place in the fourth round, where will face Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Spain's Tommy Robredo. Russian Nikolay Davydenko, the world number four, became the biggest casualty of the event, falling to unseeded American Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-2.
Fish, ranked 98th in the world, broke an eight-match losing streak against top-10 opponents - a run of futility that had stretched back to the 2007 Australian Open.
He earned a fourth-round match against Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who beat Russian Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-1. Seventh-seeded Argentinian David Nalbandian advanced with a 7-6 (7/1), 0-6, 7-6 (8/6) victory over Czech Radek Stepanek, and next meets Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Ferrero edged Croatian Mario Ancic 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7). The Spaniard wasted one match point en route to the third-set tiebreaker, while Ancic was unable to convert two match points of his own in the tiebreaker.
Scottish 11th seed Andy Murray and German Tommy Haas booked a fourth-round meeting.
Murray beat Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (9/7), 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, while Haas, on the comeback trail after having a third shoulder operation last year, beat Spain's Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-1.