• BNP Paribas Open

Djokovic drags himself past Anderson

Novak Djokovic grabbed three breaks on his way to victory © Getty Images

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Novak Djokovic took a while to find his groove before eventually sealing a fretful straight-sets win over Kevin Anderson in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

There was nothing particularly fluent about the world No. 1, who will know he needs to improve if he is to retain the title, but he managed to carve out a 6-2 6-3 success.

It is a scoreline that probably flatters the Serb, who was tested by Anderson in the early stages of both frames. Anderson, arriving after taking the title at Delray Beach, played with confidence and abandon, yet came up short whenever Djokovic found tennis worthy of his reputation.

After his second-round win over Andrey Golubev, Djokovic conceded he did not play a "beautiful match", and stressed the importance of making strides in his next outing. He probably managed that, but still will want to take a more significant leap when it comes to fourth-round action.

Nonetheless, his bid for a third Indian Wells title rumbles on, and was sealed thanks to three breaks, two of which arrived in the first set.

Australia's Matthew Ebden caused the upset of the day in the men's draw, ousting eighth seed Mardy Fish. The qualifier won on the back of a solid service game, which saw him drop just 18 points, to claim a 6-3 6-4 triumph.

Fish's compatriot Andy Roddick also made an early exit as he fell to seventh seed Tomas Berdych. After battling for more than two hours, Berdych took the three-set victory 6-3 4-6 6-2.

Elsewhere, Eleventh seed John Isner blitzed ten aces on his way to a 7-5 7-5 triumph against Juan Monaco, while Gilles Simon conquered Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 6-4.

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