Thursday 13 March 2014 07:51, UK
Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka is out of the BNP Paribas Open after a shock three-set loss to Kevin Anderson.
Wawrinka, seeded three in Indian Wells, was beaten 7-6 (7-1) 4-6 6-1 in his first tournament since his Grand Slam success in Melbourne.
It was also Wawrinka’s first loss in 14 matches this year and his first defeat to the South African 17th seed, who will now go on to face Roger Federer in the quarter-final.
"I knew it's going to happen," Wawrinka said. "I'm not going to keep winning every tournament.
"It took me a lot of energy to come back here, to practice well, to win the first two matches, especially against (Ivo) Karlovic.
"Today I felt that my energy was a little bit down. Mentally, I wasn't ready."
Federer, ranked seven, was rarely troubled as he secured a routine 6-4 6-4 win over 11th seed Tommy Haas in their fourth-round encounter.
Federer is targeting a fifth title at Indian Wells, having previously won here in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2012.
No 12 seed John Isner overcame a second set wobble to see off Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-3. And there was another Spanish casualty as Feliciano Lopez was beaten 6-3 7-6 (7-4) by Julien Benneteau.
Benneteau will face Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals after the second-seeded Serbian fought back from a set down to see off Croatia's Marin Cilic.
In-form Cilic has already won two ATP tournaments this year and looked set to claim a big-name scalp after the first set, but Djokovic managed to turn the tables and complete a 1-6 6-2 6-3 victory.
"It was very tough. Marin was by far the better player the first 45 minutes. He was striking the ball incredibly well," Djokovic said.
The world No 2, who has never lost against Cilic in eight meetings, added: "I just tried to stay calm and composed and believe that I could come back."
