Roger Federer continued the sizzling form here in Indian Wells at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open with an emphatic 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Croat Ivo Karlovic. Later he was all praises for his 6'10" tall opponent. "He's a tough opponent to play against, I think he's good for the lower ranked players to play against just because you'll always have a chance. For the top guys, it's worse because it also just depends on a few shots. I'm actually pretty happy with the (7-1) head-to-head I had with him."

Federer next faces Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who edged past 13th seeded American hope, James Blake. In a sharp display of power and precision, Gonzalez finished the 7-5, 6-1 match in just 65 minutes. Fourth seeded Scot Andy Murray also looked quite impressive in his 6-3, 6-2 demolition of Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu

Russian Igor Andreev though, pulled the most amazing upset win of the draw, defeating arguably one of the hottest players on tour currently, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. In a match that witnessed Tsonga commit 31 unforced errors to 20 winners, Andreev closed the match 7-5, 6-4 with two elusive breaks, one in each set.

Other winners of the day included Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Ivan Ljubicic, who eliminated eighth seed Gilles Simon 6-3, 7-6(3) after 84 minutes of tussle.

In the women's draw, fifth seed Ana Ivanovic defeated Gisela Dulko 6-3, 6-3 to move to the next round. "She was a tough opponent so I knew I had to be aggressive, said Ivanovic. "I didn't feel as good as I did in my first match. But I stepped it up when it got close in each set. I followed my instincts and went for my shots. I played really well when I needed to, so I was happy about that. I'm looking forward to my next match."

Acapulco runner-up Flavia Pennetta also made it to the next round, but after a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 struggle, where in she beat Wild Card entrant American Angela Haynes. Defending Champion Daniela Hantuchova defeated qualifier Petra Cetkovska, who knocked out third seed Elena Dementieva earlier, in a relatively easier match winning 7-5, 7-5. Polish star Agnieszka Radwanska also secured her place in the next round with a win over Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-4 in just under an hour.

Other names to make it to the next round were Sybille bammer, Agnes Szavay, Nuria Llagostera Vives and Jelena Jankovic's conquerer Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.