Indian Wells: Federer knocks out Nadal in straight sets

The show belonged to the resurgent Roger Federer of 2017 as he knocked out Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-3 from the Round of 16 of the BNP Paribas Open today.

The Swiss maestro seemed to be on his best as he comfortably walked past his greatest nemesis without giving Nadal any time and opportunity to crawl back in the game.

This is Federer's second victory over Nadal in three months, the earlier being when he won the season-opening Grand Slam Australian Open in January.

Roger produced his exquisite backhands and made Nadal run for each point as the Spanish proved to be the clear second-best. It was the day of the Swiss great as his baseline contacts came along well and his precision was worth millions.

Federer broke Nadal in the very first serve of the game as the Swiss stamped his dominance on the game right then.

Serving henceforth, Federer dished out a beautiful baseline forehand when on advantage after Nadal had stretched the game till deuce.

Finding some precision back, Nadal easily took the third game with the Swiss making many unforced errors and hitting loose balls and the set went to 2-1 in Federer's favour.

The first rally of the fourth game was a thing of beauty as both the veterans hit long and kept making returns only for the Swiss to break down first and hit the final shot into the net. Federer then quickly won four points at the trot and won the game to go 3-1 up in the set.

The fifth game saw a delicious backhand winner from Federer as he levelled the points at 30-30. Post the backhand winner, Federer played out a patient rally making the Spanish run around the court for each point and then hit a forehand winner on the left after making Nadal go the extreme right and made it 40-30. Nadal fought back in the next point to make it deuce. But another lapse of concentration from the Spanish followed as he made an unforced error to give the advantage to Federer. The Swiss, thereafter, picked out a brilliant baseline backhand winner to break Nadal's serve yet again and go 4-1 up in the net.

Nadal was unable to break Federer's serve henceforth and though he held his own, the Swiss won the first set 6-2.

The second game began with Nadal winning his first serve and Federer picking his own. But soon, Federer upped his game yet again and Nadal's own concentration and lack of precision brought his doom when the Swiss broke Nadal's second serve to get an upperhand into the game.

From there on, Federer held his nerve and his serves as Nadal yet again failed to break Federer even once. The Swiss comfortably won the set 6-3 and hence, the game.

Having won the match, Federer has set up a mouthwatering quarter-final against Australian Nick Kyrgios who upset World Number 2 Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6 (3) in an hour and 52 minutes.