Defending champion Roger Federer has battled past fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells Masters.

Federer, seeded second behind Novak Djokovic and chasing his first title since Cincinnati last August, could get a quarter-final clash with his great rival Rafael Nadal, who was to play Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis in the fourth round later on Wednesday.

Nadal is seeded fifth as he plays his fourth tournament since returning from a seven-month injury absence and faced a potentially tricky fourth-round match against Gulbis.

The 24-year-old Latvian qualifier is on a hot streak. He became the first qualifier to win an ATP title this year when he triumphed at Delray Beach prior to Indian Wells.

Eighth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also reached the quarter-finals with a three-set victory over Milos Raonic in a rematch of their record-breaking Olympic tussle.

Tsonga needed one hour and 54 minutes to get past the Canadian 4-6 7-5 6-4, moving through when Raonic, known for his booming serve, delivered a double-fault on the first match point.

The two met in the first round at the London Olympics, with Tsonga winning 6-3 3-6 25-23 – the third set the longest recorded in Games history.

Tsonga will face either world No.1 Novak Djokovic or American Sam Querrey in the quarter-finals of the combined ATP Masters and WTA tournament.

Querrey is the last man to beat the Serbian star – back on October 31 at the Paris Masters.

Since then Djokovic has put together a 20-match winning streak and won a fourth career Australian Open crown as well as the ATP title in Dubai.

Djokovic didn’t attach much importance to the loss to Querrey, noting that the indoor surface was very different from the conditions they would encounter on the hard courts of the California desert.

“Different circumstances and conditions,” he said.