Watch: Roger Federer Unsettles Rafael Nadal At Indian Wells

Roger Federer defeated Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-3 at Indian Wells (BNP Paribas Open) on Wednesday in a fourth-round match as we witnessed the longtime rivals meeting very much earlier in a tournament than usual.

The two superstars hadn’t faced each other before the quarterfinals of an event since their last meeting in 2004 in the third round of Miami Open. Furthermore, Wednesday’s match was just the fifth time when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal weren’t opposing each other in a final.

However, this Indian Wells clash too left us in awe after witnessing the remarkable performance and utter dominance of Roger Federer. He just faced one break point on his serve, and recovered with a big serve and two winning backhands, going up 2-0 in the first set. The four-time Indian Wells Champion was crafty, too. Leading 5-1, the Swiss Superman moved in quickly on Nadal’s serves, surprising the Spaniard on many occasions. Federer’s drop shots were also well-timed and even when a struggling Nadal got to them in time, Federer answered him with one of his 26 winners of the game.

The dominance continued in the second set as being down 5-3 in the second set, Rafael Nadal kicked a second serve in the middle of the deuce court, only to see Federer unleash a clean backhand winner down the line.

See The Highlights Here:

(Video Source: BNP Paribas Open)

However, Nadal still leads the 13-year old rivalry with Federer by 23-13, but Wednesday’s game unveiled another chapter of this tale. This was Nadal’s third straight defeat against Roger Federer for the first time in his career. First at the 2015 Basel final, then this year’s Australian Open final and the recent defeat on Wednesday at Indian Wells.

As Usual, Twitter went Ballistic after Roger Federer Unsettles Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells and entered the Quarter-Finals.