Defending champion Roger Federer eased into the fourth round of the Indian Wells Masters on Monday with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Ivan Dodig. Federer, seeded second here behind world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, needed just 61 minutes to get past the Croatian ranked 60th in the world. Dodig made the Swiss great's task a bit easier with a bevy of untimely double-faults, the sixth on match point to bring proceedings to a close. Federer, seeking his first title of 2013, next faces either fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, the 18th seed, or Aussie veteran Lleyton Hewitt. bb/gph

The Indian Wells Masters couldn't come at a better time for Roger Federer, a four-time champion in the California desert who is seeking his first tournament title of 2013. The Swiss great, seeded second in the first of the ATP's elite Masters events of the year behind world number one Novak Djokovic, missed out on retaining titles in Rotterdam and Dubai. In Rotterdam he fell to France's Julien Benneteau in the quarter-finals, while in Dubai he failed to convert three match points in a semi-final loss to Tomas Berdych.

Roger Federer, with two unsuccessful title defences behind him already this year, is eager to reverse that trend at the Indian Wells Masters. The Swiss great, seeded second in the first of the ATP's elite Masters events of 2013 behind world number one Novak Djokovic, missed out on retaining titles in Rotterdam and Dubai. In Rotterdam he fell to France's Julien Benneteau in the quarter-finals, while in Dubai he failed to convert three match points in a semi-final loss to Tomas Berdych.

Roger Federer earned himself a chance of revenge for his most disappointing defeat of 2012 by carrying the defence of his Dubai Open title impressively into the semi-finals on Thursday. The five-time champion's 6-2, 6-2 win over Nikolay Davydenko earned him a semi-final with Tomas Berdych, the dangerously flat-hitting Czech who halted Federer in the quarter-finals of the US Open in 2012.