Michael Fiala/Reuters
Spain’s David Ferrer chasing a drop shot hit by Jeremy Chardy of France on Tuesday in Indian Wells, California. Ferrer won 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Defending champ Djokovic defeats Haas; Nadal wins
INDIAN WELLS, California: Novak Djokovic maintained his title defense by handling Tommy Haas of Germany 6-2, 7-6 (1) to ease into the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday.
Haas had reached the quarterfinals for the last two years but third-seeded Djokovic did enough in the second set to stay on top and swept the last seven points of the tiebreaker.
“I’m still finding the rhythm and everything,” Djokovic said. “I don’t want to put any extra pressure on myself.
“I’m playing a very solid game for now and saving lots of energy and being focused, not underestimating my opponents and going step by step. The game, for now, it’s quite fine.”
He was on course for a repeat semifinal with top-seeded Rafael Nadal, who advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Russian Dmitry Tursunov. Nadal’s powerful groundstrokes kept the Russian off-balance and on the run, and Tursunov had troubles of his own, making 37 unforced errors.

Nadal said he didn’t play very well against Tursunov.
“He didn’t give me a lot of rhythm. He played good shots, but at the same time, he made mistakes,” Nadal said. “I had more mistakes than usual.
“But I won 6-3, 6-3, so it’s a good win.”
Nadal next plays Argentine star David Nalbandian, who has a 2-0 record against the Spaniard. Nalbandian withstood 11 aces from Viktor Troicki of Serbia to win 6-4, 6-2.
Later, Andy Roddick of the United States beat Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer 6-4, 7-6(4) in their night match.
Down 3-1 in the tiebreaker, Roddick turned on the power. After Kiefer double-faulted, Roddick evened it with a service winner and added a 135-mph (217 kph) ace to go in front. An overhead gave him a 5-3 lead, and he went on to win the tiebreaker 7-4 with still another big overhead.
Another Argentine advanced, sixth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro, who had to sweat through a tight third set featuring four breaks of serves against Jurgen Melzer of Austria before cruising through the tiebreaker to win 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (2).
Del Potro, who won four consecutive tournaments last year, will meet John Isner after the American wild card accounted for the struggling Marat Safin 6-4, 6-4.
In the women’s field, Vera Zvonareva yearlong surge took her past Li Na 6-4, 6-4 and back into quarterfinals.
Zvonareva, the second-highest seed left at No. 4, had lost to Li in the quarterfinals here two years ago. But since then, she’d beaten Li twice, including for the singles bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics. On Tuesday, Zvonareva converted all three of her break chances against the unseeded Chinese while Li, who’d removed Amelie Mauresmo and Patty Schnyder, missed three break points in the second set.
The Russian has reached the quarterfinals at Indian Wells for the fourth time in five visits, but has never advanced further. In her path will be a first-time match with ninth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Polish wild card Urszula Radwanska 7-5, 6-3.
Radwanska’s older sister, seventh-seeded Agnieszka, won against Agnes Szavay of Hungary 6-0, 5-7, 6-3.
Zvonareva played in the most finals last year — eight — and held down a top-10 ranking. Then she reached her first Grand Slam semifinals at the Australian Open, cracked the top five, and followed that with the title at Pattaya City, Thailand last month.
The 18-year-old Wozniacki, the first Danish woman to win a singles title, was through to her fifth quarterfinals of the year.
Top-seeded Dinara Safina put away American veteran Jill Craybas 7-5, 6-4 for the sixth time in six meetings, and faced eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus next. Azarenka, who won the singles and doubles titles at Memphis last month, beat Shahar Peer of Israel 7-5, 6-4.
Russian teen Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova achieved her best career result by reaching the quarterfinals, leading Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-3, 3-0 when the Spaniard retired with a left hip strain.
The 17-year-old Pavlyuchenkova beat second-seeded Jelena Jankovic in the previous round.
Defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia took a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Italy’s Flavia Pennetta in a match that ended just before midnight local time.
BNP PARIBAS OPEN RESULTS
INDIAN WELLS, California (AP) — Results Tuesday from the BNP Paribas Open, a $4.5 million ATP Tour and $4.5 million WTA Tour event on hardcourts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden (seedings in parentheses):
SINGLES
Men’s Third Round
Novak Djokovic (3), Serbia, def. Tommy Haas, Germany, 6-2, 7-6 (1).
Juan Martin del Potro (6), Argentina, def. Jurgen Melzer (30), Austria, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (2).
David Nalbandian (14), Argentina, def. Viktor Troicki, Serbia, 6-4, 6-2.
John Isner, United States, def. Marat Safin (24), Russia, 6-4, 6-4.

Rafael Nadal (1), Spain, def. Dmitry Tursunov (26), Russia, 6-3, 6-3.
Stanislas Wawrinka (16), Switzerland, def. Sam Querrey, United States, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8).
David Ferrer (12), Spain, def. Jeremy Chardy, France, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Andy Roddick (7), United States, def. Nicolas Kiefer (31), Germany, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Women’s Fourth Round
Vera Zvonareva (4), Russia, def. Li Na, China, 6-4, 6-4.
Caroline Wozniacki (9), Denmark, def. Urszula Radwanska, Poland, 7-5, 6-3.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, Spain, 6-3, 3-0, retired.
Victoria Azarenka (8), Belarus, def. Shahar Peer, Israel, 7-5, 6-4.
Dinara Safina (1), Russia, def. Jill Craybas, United States, 7-5, 6-4.
Agnieszka Radwanska (7), Poland, def. Agnes Szavay (22), Hungary, 6-0, 5-7, 6-3.
Sybille Bammer (23), Austria, def. Daniela Hantuchova (30), Slovakia, 6-3, 6-2.
Ana Ivanovic (5), Serbia, def. Flavia Pennetta (12), Italy, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
DOUBLES
Men’s Second Round
Ross Hutchins and Andy Murray, Britain, def. Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa (8), Brazil, 6-1, 6-3.
Bob and Mike Bryan (1), United States, def. Marc Lopez and Rafael Nadal, Spain, 6-4, 6-3.
Women’s Quarterfinals
Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, and Vera Zvonareva, Russia, def. Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova, Russia, 6-0, 6-2.
Gisela Dulko, Argentina, and Shahar Peer, Israel, def. Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Czech Republic, 5-7, 6-3, 14-12.