Defending champion Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal set up a mouth-watering showdown in the BNP Paribas quarter-finals after they battled through tricky fourth-round encounters on Wednesday.

Federer rode his luck to scrape past fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 6-7 7-5 while Nadal had to come from a set down to beat talented Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis 4-6 6-4 7-5.

Four-times Indian Wells champion Federer last played Nadal a year ago, also at Indian Wells, when the Swiss won their semi-final 6-3 6-4, though the Spaniard leads overall in their meetings 18-10.

Australian Open champion and top seed Novak Djokovic, who began his “evening” match in the early hours of yesterday morning local time, advanced with a 6-0 7-6 victory over big-serving American Sam Querrey.

Third seed Andy Murray needed almost two hours to beat Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 7-6 6-4 and will next face seventh-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, who overpowered German Tommy Haas 6-1 6-2.

Federer appeared to be in cruise control serving for the match at 5-4 in the second but was broken to love before his opponent went on to clinch the set in a tiebreak 7-4.

The players traded early breaks of serve in the third before Federer sealed the win by again breaking Wawrinka in the 12th game when his compatriot and good friend netted a forehand.

“Today it was extremely close again,” Federer said.

“He usually plays me pretty good actually overall.

“Okay, I should maybe close it out in the second set, but he did well to stay in it.

“At the end, I don’t know what gets me through.

“Today I think I was a little lucky to come through it in the end.”

Erratic serving cost Petra Kvitova dearly as the fifth-seeded Czech was knocked out by Russian Maria Kirilenko, losing 4-6 6-4 6-3 in the women’s quarter-finals.

Kirilenko will next meet 2006 champion and compatriot Maria Sharapova, who beat sixth-seeded Italian Sara Errani 7-6 6-2 in a late evening match at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Left-hander Kvitova double-faulted 13 times during an error-strewn encounter which ended after almost two-and-a-half hours when the 2011 Wimbledon champion sent a forehand long on a steaming hot afternoon.