Roger Federer remains at world number two after beating Croat Ivo Karlovic with a 7-6 6-3 victory in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. It was the sixth defeat of Karlovic from his seven previous meetings with Federer.

Federer earlier regarded the Croat’s serve as “untouchable.””It’s completely different to any other serve out there because of his size and he backs it up well at the net,” he told a news conference. “He puts a lot of pressure on you because he can hit all four corners very easily.
Despite that, he managed to avoid another tie-break in the sixth game of the second and eventually clinching a straight sets win. “He’s a touch opponent to play against,” he said. The tie-break tilted toward Federer’s way when Karlovis had his first double fault of the match.
The Swiss player is set to defend his Swiss Indoors title won last year against Finn Jarkko Nieminen who won over finalist Marcos Baghdatis in the 2006 Australian Open. Federer’s win will also lead him to a quarter-final against Czech Radek Stepanek.