Tennis: Sharapova, Djokovic roll on at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic defeated Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 to reach the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday with his 20th consecutive victory.

Djokovic trailed 5-3 in the first set when the 21-year-old Bulgarian committed six double-faults, including four in one game, to help the Serb force the tiebreaker. Djokovic won it on a backhand error by the youngest player remaining in the draw.

Djokovic moves on to play Sam Querrey, a 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (7-9), 7-5 winner over Marinko Matosevic.

Djokovic hasn't lost since Oct. 31 — he's 15-0 in 2013 — when Querrey beat him at the Paris Masters. Querrey is poised to take over as the top-ranked American in the men's game — albeit not in the top 10.

Also, Mardy Fish lost 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-0) to No. 8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

"I really felt the match could have been a completely different scoreline pretty easily," Fish said. "That's why you're a little disappointed."

Tsonga has beaten Fish all four times they have played. The Frenchman next plays 17th-seeded Milos Raonic, who outlasted Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Fish lost in the third round for the second straight year. He is playing his first tournament since last September after being sidelined with a heart condition, although he hasn't disclosed the exact nature of the problems.

"I certainly missed playing tennis for a living. I certainly missed making money, got bills to pay," he said. "It's a tough thing because the last time that I was on the tennis court was some of the worst times I have ever had. That part is very hard to deal with. It's not easy to come back from that. This week is a good step in the right direction."

On the women's side, Maria Sharapova recovered from an early break to advance to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino of Spain.

Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka had an even easier time, routing Urszula Radwanska 6-3, 6-1.

Fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova beat No. 19 seed Klara Zakopalova 6-2, 6-3, and sixth-seeded Sara Errani defeated No. 9 Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-2. (AP)