World number one Roger Federer defeated Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5, 6-4 in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open to reach the quarter-finals. The 36-year-old Swiss maestro can equal his season-best start of 16-0 with a win in the quarterfinals, where he will meet Hyeon Chung of South Korea in a rematch of their Australian Open semifinal. "This might be the last day, so we'll see," Federer said, smiling. "Don't jinx it."
The Swiss is unbeaten in 2018, having won 15 matches and claimed titled at the Australian Open and Rotterdam Open.
Chung, seeded 23rd at Indian Wells, beat 30th-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-1, 6-3.
Since his Grand Slam breakthrough Down Under, Chung has been on a roll. He has reached the quarterfinals or better in four of five tournaments and improved to 15-5 this year.
He faces South Korea's Chung Hyeon next after his 6-1 6-3 win over Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas.
The two last met in the Australian Open semi-finals, where Federer led 6-1 5-2 before his opponent retired with blisters.
This is the 20-time Grand Slam champion's best start to a season since 2006, when he went on to win 33 of his first 34 matches.
He needed just 82 minutes to wrap up victory against Chardy, winning 100% of his first serves and breaking him just once in each set.
Federer is chasing a record sixth title in the desert.
