Juan Martin Del Potro, Rafael Nadal Look Strong at Indian Wells

Keep up with us on Facebook!

It might not be fair to say that Juan Martin Del Potro is all the way back to the form he showed in late 2009, but he's definitely found the right path to travel. 

Del Potro surged into the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open Monday night with a commanding 7-6(3), 6-3 win over 20th seed Alexandr Dogopolov, who had previously been one of the hottest players on tour in 2011. 

In a match with few service breaks, Argentina's Del Potro hustled his way to the first-set victory, then broke Dolgopolov three times in the second set to cruise to the victory and advance to a fourth-round tussle with Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, who upset No. 4 Robin Soderling earlier Monday.

“Even if del Potro is not seeded, he is the favorite,” said Kohlschreiber. “He is a Grand Slam champion and he's coming back, so he's maybe not at his best, but for sure he's playing really good tennis.” 

Del Potro improved to 16-4 on the year with the victory. Even if he falls against Kohlschreiber, Del Potro will put another 90 points on his ranking and likely move into the Top 75 next week.

While one Grand Slam champion was continuing his comeback trail, another was in cruise control on Monday night. World No. 1 Rafael Nadal dispensed of American qualifier Ryan Sweeting, 6-3, 6-1, needing just 68 minutes. 

Sweeting didn't help his cause much by double faulting four times and getting broken four times as his run came to a decisive end. Still, going out against the best player in the world isn't too bad a finish for the man ranked 105th in the world. 

Nadal moves on to another surprise opponent, India's Somdev Devvarman, who upset Xavier Malisse, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5). A key break in the third set got Devvarman to the tie-breaker, where he fell behind 5-3 before taking the final four points to advance.

A two-time All-American at the University of Virginia, this was just the third main draw appearance at an ATP 1000 event for Devvarman. 

Devvarman and Del Potro weren't the only unseeded men keeping their runs going. Ivo Karlovic powered past 28th-seeded Gilles Simon, 6-3, 6-3. Karlovic blasted 11 aces and never had his serve broken in advancing to the fourth round where he'll square off against Albert Montanes. It's the first time Karlovic has been four rounds deep at a tournament since Delray Beach in February of 2010. 

Keep up with us on Facebook!