Defending champion Rafael Nadal cruised into the third round of the Pacific Life Open on Saturday while third seed Novak Djokovic had to work a little harder to advance.
Spaniard Nadal swept aside Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-3 after Djokovic had survived a shaky second set in swirling winds on the Stadium Court to beat Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-6.
Djokovic, who clinched his maiden grand slam title at the Australian Open in January, struggled for fluency after dominating his opponent with crunching groundstrokes before wrapping up victory in one hour and 40 minutes.
"Everybody could realise the wind was the most thing difficult today," the 20-year-old Serb said in a courtside televised interview after clinching the tiebreak 7-3.
"It was a big factor. In the desert it is probably a good thing to have the wind to cool off a little bit but for us it's a pain in the ...," he added before trailing off.
Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in last year's final at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, will next meet Belgian Xavier Malisse or Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Despite the blustery conditions, Djokovic delivered an exquisite drop shot to break Seppi in the fourth game before breezing through the first set in 36 minutes.
The Serb, who piled up five ATP titles in 2007, broke his opponent again in the fifth game of the second set before squandering his first match point when leading 5-3 and 30-40 in the ninth.
TRADED BREAKS
Seppi broke Djokovic for the first time in the 10th game before the two players traded further breaks of serve to level at 6-6 and take the set into a tiebreak.
"I started well and I played the first set pretty solid," the Serb said. "But then suddenly I started making a lot of mistakes.
"It was a very ugly match to watch with a lot of unforced errors, because it was so windy that you couldn't get the rhythm."
Nadal, the world number two and second seed, broke Giraldo twice in each set to secure victory in just over an hour.
"I am very happy being back at Indian Wells and I have very nice memories from last year," the muscular left-hander said. "This court is always very special for me."
Tenth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych made an early exit, losing 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 to Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.
In other matches, eighth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet swept aside Swede Robin Soederling 6-3, 6-2 and Spaniard David Ferrer, the fifth seed, eased past Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-2, 6-2.
