Federer, Cilic, Del Potro advance in Indian Wells, Djokovic out

Reigning World No.1 Roger Federer of Switzerland completed his match against Argentina's Federico Delbonis, suspended a day earlier, and advanced to the third round of the Indian Wells tennis tournament with a 6-3, 7-6(6) win.

The Federer-Delbonis match was suspended due to rain on Saturday night with the World No.1 ahead 6-3, 2-2, reports Efe.

Federer will face Serbia's Filip Krajinovic, a finalist at the Paris Masters in 2017, in the third round.

World No.3 Marin Cilic of Croatia on Sunday defeated Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 7-5, 6-3 to set up a third-round clash with Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat Tim Smyczek of the United States 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro (6) defeated Australia's Alex De Minaur 6-2, 6-1 to set up a third-round match with Spain's David Ferrer (29), who beat American Tim Smyczek 6-2, 7-6 (3).

Another Spaniard, 28-ranked Feliciano Lopez, also won his match against the American Ernesto Escobedo 6-4, 6-3.

He will now play against another American, Jack Sock, who beat Italy's Thomas Fabbiano 6-2, 7-5.

The biggest surprise of the day was the defeat of former world number one, Serbian Novak Djokovic, who returned to the tournament following his elbow operation, only to be defeated by Japanese Taro Daniel, ranked 109th in the world, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1.

Daniel will meet Argentina's Leonardo Mayer, who had been scheduled to play Japan's Kei Nishikori in the second round before the Japanese withdrew.

Another surprise winner was Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis, who beat Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, who is seeded 14th, 7-5, 6-4.

Among the other losers on Sunday were Germany's Alexander Zverev, who lost to Portugal's Joao Sousa 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, and American John Isner, who was defeated by France's Gael Monfils 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), 7-5 in a gripping match, in which both players struck a total of 23 aces.

--IANS

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