Reigning champion Novak Djokovic was a third-round winner Tuesday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, the ATP World Tour's first Masters event of the year.
The third-seeded Serbian Djokovic topped former top-10 German star Tommy Haas 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) in 1 hour, 47 minutes on the hardcourts at the beautiful Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Djokovic popped eight aces and recorded three service breaks on his way to erasing the oft-injured Haas.
The reigning ATP World Tour Finals titlist Djokovic beat American Mardy Fish in last year's finale here and was the 2007 runner-up to Rafael Nadal.
