World No. 1 Roger Federer kept on course to reclaim his title at the Pacific Life Open, putting together a dominant 6-1, 6-1 effort against France’s Nicolas Mahut in third round action on Tuesday in Indian Wells.

Federer limited Mahut to just four points in the last five games of the 22-minute opening set, and then allowed his opponent one final tally as the Frenchman held serve to start the second set. The top-seeded Swiss dropped just one point on serve the remainder of the way and broke Mahut three times in five chances to close the win in 53 minutes.

“I enjoy matches like this,” said Federer, who notched his 19th straight win over a Frenchman. “For me, having a sensation like I had today towards the end of the second set when you feel everything's going your way, you've got his game perfectly figured out and everything you're trying to do sort of works as well, it's just a good feeling.

“I think this is also what you want to do then is you want to try to run over your opponent. Not give him a chance anymore. I was really happy to break that often, and no problems whatsoever on my own serve.  It was a perfect match really for me.”

Federer, the winner of three straight Indian Wells titles from 2004-06, made a shocking second round exit at this event last year. He confidently opened his 2008 title bid with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Sunday.

The Swiss has an eight-match winning streak against his fourth round opponent, Croatian No. 23 seed Ivan Ljubicic, dating back to the 2005 season opener at Doha. Federer posted two of those wins in Indian Wells, in the fourth round in 2005 and quarterfinals in ’06.

Former Word No. 3 Ljubicic, who celebrates his 29th birthday on Wednesday, topped 15th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-4, and will be looking to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals for the third year running.

Argentine David Nalbandian, the No. 7 seed, extended his winning streak at ATP Masters Series event to 14 matches as he once again prevailed in a third-set tie-break. The 26-year-old had defeated Latvian teenager Ernests Gulbis in a 7-6(4) third set on Sunday to reach the third round.

Czech Radek Stepanek held the match on his racquet as he served for the win at 5-4 in the third set, but Nalbandian countered to level the score. He converted on his fourth match point in the decisive tie-break to steal the win, 7-6(1), 0-6, 7-6(6).

Nalbandian, also a former World No. 3, finished his 2007 ATP season with a flourish as he captured the ATP Masters Series titles at Madrid and Paris. He defeated Federer and World No. 2 at both events.

He will next confront former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, who also was extended to a third set tie-break in his dramatic third round match against past Top 10 player Mario Ancic.

Ferrero failed to convert on his first two match points at 6-5 on Ancic’s serve, and then needed to save two of the Croat’s match points in the tie-break. He finally closed out the win in exactly three hours on his fourth match point, 7-6(1), 4-6, 7-6(7).