Defending champion Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal set up a mouthwatering showdown in the BNP Paribas quarterfinals after they battled through tricky fourth-round encounters on Wednesday.

Federer rode his luck to scrape past fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 while Nadal had to come from a set down to beat talented Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Four-time Indian Wells champion Federer last played Nadal a year ago, also at Indian Wells, when the Swiss won their semifinal 6-3, 6-4, though the Spaniard leads overall in their meetings 18-10.

Australian Open champion and top seed Novak Djokovic, who began his "evening" match in the early hours of Thursday morning thanks to some lengthy matches in Wednesday's day session, advanced with a 6-0, 7-6 victory over big-serving American Sam Querrey.

Third seed Andy Murray needed almost 2 hours to beat Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 7-6, 6-4 and will next face seventh-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, who overpowered German Tommy Haas 6-1, 6-2.

Federer appeared to be in cruise control serving for the match at 5-4 in the second but was broken to love before his opponent went on to clinch the set in a tiebreak 7-4.

The players traded early breaks of serve in the third before Federer sealed the win by again breaking Wawrinka in the 12th game when his compatriot and good friend netted a forehand.

Nadal, playing his first hard-court event in almost a year, lost a closely contested opening set to Gulbis when he hit a forehand long on the first break point of the match. However, the left-hander steadily upped his game to take control of the next two sets as the two players treated a packed house at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden with a brilliant display of shot-making.

Twice champion Nadal broke Gulbis for the final time in the 11th game of the third set when his opponent dumped a forehand into the net, then served out in the 12th, sealing victory with a whipped forehand winner down the line.

Top seed Djokovic stormed through his opening set against local favorite Querrey in only 22 minutes before winning a closely contested second set 8-6 in the tiebreak.

"I started off the match incredibly well, having waited 6 hours on site to play my match," Djokovic said. "He played well in the second and it could have gone either way. I am really thrilled to go through."

Djokovic, whose two titles this year include a fourth Australian Open crown, stretched his match winning streak to 21 - dating back to a loss to Querrey at the Paris Masters on October 31.

US Open champion Murray, a losing finalist in 2009, advanced with a straight sets victory that featured seven service breaks, plenty of grunting by the Argentinian and a series of protracted games.

In other matches, sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych eased past Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-1, 7-5 while eighth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came from a set down to beat Canada's Milos Raonic 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Reuters - Global Times