Imperious Nadal eases past Schwartzman

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California, March 13: Rafael Nadal eased into the fourth round of the Indian Wells Masters with an emphatic straight-sets defeat of Diego Schwartzman.

The second seed maintained his perfect record against Schwartzman on Tuesday (March 12), reaching the last 16 thanks to a 6-3 6-1 victory.

Nadal has now won seven out of seven matches against the world number 26, who started well before being outclassed by the 17-time grand slam champion.

World number two Nadal lost just two games in a second-round thrashing of Jared Donaldson and produced another ominous performance to set up a meeting with Filip Krajinovic.

Nadal did not face a solitary break point, won 81 per cent of points on his first serve and returned superbly as he cruised through.

Nadal started impressively with a hold to love and Schwartzman also hit the ground running in a tight opening set, as break points proved to be elusive.

Three-time Indian Wells champion Nadal claimed the breakthrough to lead 5-3, stepping in to put his opponent under pressure and force a backhand error.

Nadal served out the opening set with conviction and was soon in control of the second as Schwartzman was peppered by powerful groundstrokes on a glorious day in the California desert.

A rasping backhand followed by an overhead volley gave the Spaniard a break in the first game of the set and he was a double break up when the Argentinean failed to return a backhand.

There were cheers when Schwartzman halted Nadal's sequence of consecutive games won at seven to trail 4-1, but he bowed out after drilling a backhand just wide.