Roger Federer says he needs to stay 'sharp' as he keeps on track for Indian Wells title No 6

Roger Federer took his 2018 record to 14-0 as he dispatched Filip Krajinovic in less than an hour at Indian Wells to reach the fourth round.

The world No 1 has only dropped two sets this year and continued his dominant showing with a 6-2, 6-1 thrashing of Serbian Krajinovic.

With rivals Rafa Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray injured and Novak Djokovic suffering an early exit, the path appears clear for the Swiss to win a record sixth Indian Wells title.

Despite the promising outlook, Federer insists he is taking it one match at a time.

"You can't really look ahead to semi-finals, finals and speculate about who you could play," he said.

"I think that would be a mistake. I am on a good run right now and I want to maintain that. I have to stay sharp."

Federer, who was playing for a third day in a row due to weather delays in Indian Wells, won 89 per cent of his first service points. Krajinovic had no answer to Federer's relentless return game either and ended up winning  just 31 of the match's 93 points.

Next up for Federer is a meeting on Wednesday with France's Jeremy Chardy, who upset his countryman Adrian Mannarino earlier on Monday.

In other matches, fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem had to retire with an ankle injury while trailing Pablo Cuevas 6-3 4-6 2-4.

Seventh seed Kevin Anderson took down Nicolas Kicker 7-6(1), 7-6(3) and South Korea’s Chung Hyeon beat Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-4.

Borna Coric of Croatia upset 13th seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1 6-3 and Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta defeated Daniil Medvedev 6-1, 7-5.

American Taylor Fritz enjoyed a comeback victory over Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(1). The 20-year-old has now won 11 of 12 final-set tiebreaks.

“I think it speaks to my strengths on court, which is just being clutch and playing my best tennis in the big moments,” Fritz said, adding, "... it’s probably the stat that I’m most proud about in my tennis career".