In his first match since claiming his 100th tour-level title in Dubai, fourth seed Roger Federer defeated German Peter Gojowczyk 6-1, 7-5 on Sunday to reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Federer has now advanced to the third round or better at Indian Wells in 10 straight appearances, and he is trying to make his fifth consecutive final at the ATP Masters 1000 event (he did not play in 2016). There could be a rematch of the 2017 final in the third round, as Federer will face Stan Wawrinka next if the former World No. 3 could oust 29th seed Marton Fucsovics.

Federer is chasing a record sixth title at the BNP Paribas Open. The 37-year-old Swiss and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic both have captured five trophies in the desert.

It appeared Federer would face little difficulty against Gojowczyk, using his backhand slice to effectively keep the German from gaining any rhythm. But the World No. 85 saved four break points in the first service game of the second set, and used the momentum from that to eventually break for a 3-1 lead. While Federer immediately broke back, he had to battle an inspired Gojowczyk for the rest of the set, eventually benefitting  an untimely double fault to break before serving out the match after one hour and 17 minutes.

Federer’s 63 wins at Indian Wells are the most he has earned at any Masters 1000 event. The recent Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships winner is now 9-1 on the season, with his only loss coming against reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Go Behind The Scenes With Federer During His Media Day:

Another seeded player in Federer’s section is No. 22 seed Kyle Edmund, who defeated Chilean Nicolas Jarry 6-2, 6-0 in just 51 minutes. Edmund has proven his comfort in the desert, winning an ATP Challenger Tour event at the same facility last week.

The Brit will next face 16th seed Fabio Fognini or Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com champion Radu Albot.

Did You Know?
Since 2011, Federer has not lost to a player outside the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings at Indian Wells. Three of his five defeats in the desert during that span have come against Novak Djokovic, with Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro beating him once each.

SUNDAY 10 MARCH ORDER OF PLAY
STADIUM 1 start 11:00 am
WTA
P. Gojowczyk (GER) vs [4] R. Federer (SUI)
WTA
Not Before 6:00 pm
[WC] J. Donaldson (USA) vs [2] R. Nadal (ESP)
Not Before 8:00 pm
WTA – [WC] J. Brady (USA) vs [12] A. Barty (AUS)

STADIUM 2 start 11:00 am
[6] K. Nishikori (JPN) vs A. Mannarino (FRA)
WTA
[8] J. Isner (USA) vs [Q] A. Popyrin (AUS)
Not Before 6:00 pm
WTA
Not Before 8:00 pm
N. Djokovic (SRB) / F. Fognini (ITA) vs R. Bopanna (IND) / D. Shapovalov (CAN)

STADIUM 3 start 11:00 am
WTA
D. Lajovic (SRB) vs [10] M. Cilic (CRO)
[24] D. Shapovalov (CAN) vs S. Johnson (USA)
[29] M. Fucsovics (HUN) vs S. Wawrinka (SUI)
[6] L. Kubot (POL) / M. Melo (BRA) vs [WC] T. Fritz (USA) / N. Kyrgios (AUS)

STADIUM 4 start 11:00 am
N. Jarry (CHI) vs [22] K. Edmund (GBR)
[14] D. Medvedev (RUS) vs M. McDonald (USA)
WTA
WTA
F. Lopez (ESP) vs [12] K. Khachanov (RUS)

STADIUM 5 start 11:00 am
[LL] A. Rublev (RUS) vs R. Haase (NED)
WTA
WTA
B. McLachlan (JPN) / J. Struff (GER) vs [7] R. Klaasen (RSA) / M. Venus (NZL)

STADIUM 6 start 11:00 am
[Q] F. Krajinovic (SRB) vs [20] D. Goffin (BEL)
[25] D. Schwartzman (ARG) vs R. Carballes Baena (ESP)
[16] F. Fognini (ITA) vs [Q] R. Albot (MDA)
After Suitable Rest – [Alt] A. Mannarino (FRA) / G. Monfils (FRA) vs [WC] M. McDonald (USA) / R. Opelka (USA)

STADIUM 9 start 11:00 am
WTA
[3] O. Marach (AUT) / M. Pavic (CRO) vs M. Cecchinato (ITA) / A. Seppi (ITA)
WTA
[Q] A. Bolt (AUS) vs [32] G. Pella (ARG)
H. Hurkacz (POL) vs [28] L. Pouille (FRA)

FEDERER, NADAL KICK OFF 2019 INDIAN WELLS CAMPAIGNS ON SUNDAY
Five-time BNP Paribas Open champion Roger Federer plays his first match of the 2019 edition on Sunday when he faces Peter Gojowczyk of Germany on Stadium 1. No. 4-seeded Federer completed his quest for his 100th career ATP Tour singles title one week ago when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Dubai final, and he enters the second round of Indian Wells with an 8-1 win-loss record this season.

Federer has reached the final in his last four Indian Wells appearances, winning the title in 2017, and finishing runner-up to Novak Djokovic in 2014 and 2015 and to Juan Martin del Potro last year. Federer beat Gojowczyk in their only meeting at ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati last year, which was shortly after the German hit his career-high ranking of No. 39.

Three-time Indian Wells champion Rafael Nadal will hit Stadium 1 in the evening session, when he takes on American wild card Jared Donaldson. Nadal is playing his third event of the year, following a run to the Australian Open final, which he lost to Djokovic, and a second-round loss to eventual champion Nick Kyrgios at Acapulco last week.

As for Donaldson, he returned to the tour at Delray Beach in February following six months away due to a right knee injury, and he picked up his first Tour-level victory since July of last year by defeating Tatsuma Ito in the first round on Friday.

Three-time Grand Slam champion and 2017 Indian Wells finalist Stan Wawrinka will face a familiar foe in the second round: Wawrinka and No. 29 seed Marton Fucsovics met three times last year, with Fucsovics winning their first meeting before Wawrinka claimed two victories in back-to-back weeks later in the season.

Another former Indian Wells finalist, 2012 runner-up John Isner, will meet 19-year-old Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin on Sunday. After starting 2019 with an 0-2 record, top-ranked American Isner has made the semi-finals of his last three events in a three-week span.

STATS OF THE DAY
Five-time champion Roger Federer’s 62 match victories at Indian Wells is his highest match-win total at any of the ATP Masters 1000 events.

Rafael Nadal will play his first match at Indian Wells since losing a fourth-round clash with Federer in 2017.

Like Nadal, No. 6 seed Kei Nishikori did not play at Indian Wells last year. This will be his first match at the event since losing to Jack Sock in the 2017 quarter-finals.

Stan Wawrinka is the only player since 2011 to save a match point en route to a Grand Slam title.

No. 22 seed Kyle Edmund seeks his first Tour-level win since beating Diego Schwartzman in the first round at Vienna on 24 October. Edmund did win the ATP Challenger Tour event at Indian Wells last week.

Second-round opponents Schwartzman and Roberto Carballes Baena both lost to Marco Cecchinato during the Italian’s championship run at Buenos Aires last month.

Wild card Jared Donaldson’s first-round win over Tatsuma Ito was his first victory since he defeated Jordan Thompson in the first round of Washington on 31 July of last year.

Second-round opponents Guido Pella and Alex Bolt are playing each other at career-high rankings of No. 34 and No. 125 respectively.

Other Sunday competitors at career-high rankings are Daniil Medvedev (No. 15), Marton Fucsovics (No. 31), and Hubert Hurkacz (No. 67).

World No. 78 Feliciano Lopez is at his lowest ranking since he was No. 84 on 16 July 2007.

Dusan Lajovic snapped a 4-match losing streak with his first-round win over Taro Daniel.

Seventh seed Dominic Thiem improved to 4-4 on the season with a 6-4, 7-5 win against Aussie Jordan Thompson on Saturday evening at the BNP Paribas Open.

The Austrian broke in the fifth game of the opener, and in the first and 11^th games of the second set. Thiem, who reached the 2017 quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 event, is now 9-6 in Indian Wells.

“A few upsets [today]. It’s always tricky conditions here,” Thiem said. “But I was practising really good, and the match today was completely decent. I’m happy to get a win after some rough weeks lately, and I’m really looking forwrad to the match on Monday against Gilles.”

The right-hander is looking to bolster his hard-court resume, and he’ll have another opportunity against Frenchman Gilles Simon in the third round. Simon beat Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-4.

Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic continued his record-setting Indian Wells. The 40-year-old improved to 3-0 against countryman Borna Coric, advancing 6-4, 7-6(2).

Read More: Karlovic Is Welcoming His 40s With More Records

The 6’10” right-hander will next face India’s No. 1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who won his second Masters 1000 match by upsetting 17^th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(4).

Read More: 5 Things To Know About Gunneswaran

Basilashvili, a two-time ATP 500 titlist, hit 10 aces but also 11 double faults. The 29-year-old Gunneswaran, No. 97 in the ATP Rankings, was 1-0 in ATP Tour matches before Indian Wells.

Ivo Karlovic is finished dodging the age milestones. When he turned 30, the Croatian felt a bit depressed.

But Karlovic, who turned the big 4-0 last week, is welcoming the new decade – and age-related accomplishments – with a wide grin.

“Obviously 40s are the new 30s so I’m young again. I like it,” the light-hearted Croatian said on Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open.

Karlovic was in a jovial mood: It was the first weekend of the season’s maiden ATP Masters 1000, and his name was still in the draw.

The 6’10” right-hander became the oldest Masters 1000 winner in series history (since 1990) earlier this week, and on Saturday, he reached the third round with a 6-4, 7-6(2) win against countryman Borna Coric, the 11^th seed who reached the semi-finals here last year (l. to Federer).

“Every week I am the oldest at something, so I don’t know. Next week it will be the oldest ever to walk without implants in his hip,” he said, smiling and referencing the recent hip replacement surgeries on Tour, including Bob Bryan’s.

“Obviously it is nice that I’m still doing this, which I love, so hopefully I can continue much longer. But if not, it’s also good.”

Twelve months ago, Karlovic looked closer to retirement than to setting age records. He was almost outside the Top 100 (No. 80) and, at 39, questioned why he was still playing.

Every time he left home and his wife, Alsi, and two children – Jada, 7; Noah, 19 months – he debated walking back inside the house.

“They could not travel that much with me, and then always when I would leave it was horrible. They were sad, and I was sad, and I just didn’t really want to do it that much,” he said.

Karlovic fell to No. 138 in September, but he finished 2018 at No. 100, behind an ATP Challenger Tour title in Calgary. To start 2019, he made his 19^th tour-level final at the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune.

“Now everything is better. When you begin to win more, everything’s good,” he said. “I know that I will not continue forever so I’m trying to squeeze as much as I can.”

As he reaches advanced tennis age, a thing or two has changed. For instance, his nickname with some was “Giant” but now it’s “Grandpa”.

Other details about his career, however, remain unchanged. He still has aches. “Obviously there’s always issues with my knee, shoulder, back, elbow. I can go on but it’s all good,” he said.

And he’s still hitting aces. He hit 20 more against Coric, bringing his career tally to 13,273. Only once does Karlovic remember not hitting an ace in a match – a 7-6(8), 6-1 loss to Gael Monfils at the 2008 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

The 40-year-old has other worries now, though. He wishes he had a two-handed backhand, but admits it’s too late to switch. So in the final year or two or three of his record-setting career, Karlovic will try to hone a “razor blade” backhand slice.

It will be the final project in a career that’s entertained – and surprised – even the one breaking the records.