• BNP Paribas Open

Hot Nadal melts Isner, Djokovic out

Rafael Nadal was fired up as he became the highest-ranked player still standing © Getty Images

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Defending champion Rafael Nadal showed glimpses of his best form as he outlasted American John Isner in scorching conditions at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.

Cheered on by the vociferous home fans, Isner made life uncomfortable for Nadal and took the match to a deciding set but the Spaniard was able to find another gear and finish off a 7-5 3-6 6-3 victory in just over two hours.

A comparative giant at 205cm, Isner belted down 22 aces from a great height but Nadal found joy with a body serve that Isner was awkward in dealing with throughout the match. As such Isner was only able to create one break point in the match, an opportunity he duly converted early in the second set when Nadal had taken his foot off the accelerator.

But as the desert heat took its toll on both players, Nadal started ripping forehand winners past Isner's considerable wingspan to finish the match on a strong note. Nadal played an intelligent, aggressive match in the conditions, waiting for opportunities on Isner's second serve and then punishing them with attacking shots rather than rally-starters.

The world No.3's exuberant celebration at the end of a match he would usually be expected to win showed he means business in his chase for a second consecutive win here and a return to the top two.

Nadal's bid to move back above Novak Djokovic as Roger Federer's understudy was certainly boosted by the Serb's 7-5 6-3 loss to Ivan Ljubicic at the same time. Nadal is the highest-ranked player left in the tournament after Federer's loss to Marcos Baghdatis on Tuesday.

Djokovic, who admitted afterwards he felt tired after playing a lot of tennis recently, struggled to get on top with his service game, winning just 58% of points on his first serve, while the Croatian was up at 73%. Ljubicic saved six of seven break points, the big moments making all the difference as he earned revenge for Djokovic's recent triumph in Dubai.

Ljubicic booked a quarter-final meeting with Juan Monaco, who recovered from the loss of the first set to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 3-6 6-2 6-1. Both players produced some high-quality tennis in the first set and Garcia-Lopez took the set 6-3. The level from the pair dropped in the second, but Monaco secured three breaks and he sealed the set with a stunning backhand down the line.

The heat was causing real problems and Monaco was the one who handled the temperature better as he earned a break of serve in the fourth game of the deciding set. With the wind in his sails, Monaco started firing for the lines and Garcia-Lopez had no answer as Monaco eased into the quarter-finals.

Sixth-seed Robin Soderling may have been slight favourite ahead of his clash with ninth-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but such a dominant win as his 6-3 6-4 certainly wasn't expected. The Swede booked a quarter-final meeting with Andy Murray by playing intelligent, tactical tennis that gave Tsonga no chance.

Soderling dictated rallies from the middle of the court and won the big points towards the end of the first set and early in the second to claim the two breaks he needed to secure the result. Tsonga won 47% of points but none of the important ones as he slumped to a 0-3 record against Soderling.

True to form, the erratic Marcos Baghdatis followed up his incredible upset of Roger Federer with a 7-5 0-6 6-4 loss to Tommy Robredo. Baghdatis's levels tend to rise and drop both during a match and during a tournament and that was the case as he contrived to win 53% of points in his second epic in two days, but poorly timed lapses late in the first and midway through the third sets were all it took for Robredo to book a place in the last eight.

Andy Roddick will be Robredo's opponent after the American served past Jurgen Melzer 7-6(5) 6-4. Roddick had no need to exert himself on Melzer's serve because his own was near-invincible - Melzer could only claim 22% of points on Roddick's delivery.

The first set procession featured no break points, but at least in the second Roddick gave the patriotic crowd something to cheer by making some inroads and grabbing a break to clinch the victory.

And Tomas Berdych played some of the most impressive tennis of the day, beating Viktor Troicki 6-1 6-3. The Czech star will face somewhat of a tougher test in the quarters, where Nadal is his opponent.

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