Three-time Indian Wells champion Rafael Nadal cruised through Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-3 6-1 after 1 hour and 15 minutes with four breaks of serve to reach the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
Nadal did not face any break point during his match against Schwartzman to improve the win-loss record in his head-to-head matches against the Argentine to 7-0. He scored five of these seven matches in straight sets.
Both players went on serve with no breaks in the first seven games before Nadal converted his second break point to take a 5-3 lead, when Schwartzman netted a backhand. He closed out the first set with a hold of serve at 15 in the next game after 40 minutes.
Nadal earned his first break at the start of the second set after forcing an error from Schwartzman. He went up a double break to open up a 3-0 lead after a backhand error from Schwartzman.
Schwartzman got his first game on serve for 1-4 but he dropped his serve for the third time in the seventh game to lose the second set 6-1, when he sent a backhand long.
In his first two tournaments of the year Nadal reached the Australian Open final and lost to Nick Kyrgios in Acapulco. He is bidding to win his fourth title in Indian Wells and his first win at this tournament since 201.
Nadal will face Serbian qualifier Filip Krajnovic, who upset Danil Medvedev 6-3 6-2 in just 78 minutes. Krajinovic won his five matches at this year’s edition of Indian Wells including the qualifying round without losing a set. The Serb won 57 % of his second serve points and fended off the two break points he faced.
