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Federer cruises, Wawrinka out

Roger Federer wasted little time easing into the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday but his fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka became the first big name to be sent packing in the elite men’s event.

World number two Federer launched his bid for a record fifth title at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden with a clinical 6-4, 6-2 victory over Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman which lasted a little over an hour.

Seventh-seeded Wawrinka, however, was knocked out of the ATP Masters 1000 event, losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Dutchman Robin Haase.

Federer treated the stadium court crowd to his familiar array of blistering forehands, clean-hit backhands, power serving and delicate drop shots as he broke Schwartzman once in the opening set and twice in the second. Federer, who is competing at Indian Wells for a 15th time, will next face Italy’s Andreas Seppi, who beat Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-4, 6-4. Wawrinka, who clinched his first grand slam singles title at last year’s Australian Open, was broken twice by Haase in the opening set and also in the third to be ousted after one hour and 48 minutes.

Haase, who had been beaten by the Swiss in all six of their previous meetings, will next play Czech Lukas Rosol, who battled past Slovakian Martin Klizan 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. In other matches, 11th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov scraped past rising Australian Nick Kyrgios 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, taking the climactic third-set tiebreaker 7-4, and sixth seed Milos Raonic of Canada eased past Italian Simone Bolelli 6-3, 6-4.

Rafael Nadal breezes into round three
Spaniard Rafael Nadal opened his Indian Wells campaign on a successful note Sunday, blitzing Igor Sijsling 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the WTA and ATP hardcourt tournament. The 28-year-old Spaniard, who has won this event three times, advances to the next round where he will face American Donald Young. Nadal, who is seeded third, broke Sijsling three times and only lost one point on his first serve (22 of 23) in the 62-minute center court match.
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