Roger Federer hopes Nick Kyrgios's recent form leads to "great" things for the talented Australian.

Kyrgios continued his excellent 2017 with a straight-sets win over Novak Djokovic at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday (AEDT).

The 21 year-old made it back-to-back victories over the Serbian world number two, while improving his win-loss record to 10-3 this year.

Federer, his quarter-final opponent at the ATP 1000 event, hopes it leads to further success.

"I'm very impressed him taking out Novak, back-to-back weeks, on Novak's best surface," the Swiss 18-time grand-slam champion said, via ATP.

"I hope it's going to lead to something great for Nick, that he realises if he puts his head down and focuses that he can bring it, day in and day out, week in and week out.

"When it matters the most against the best and in finals, he's there … of course I'd like to get him back."

Like Djokovic, Federer holds a losing record against Kyrgios – having lost their only meeting in Madrid in 2015.

But the 35-= year-old produced a stunning performance of his own on Thursday (AEDT), crushing Rafael Nadal 6-2 6-3 to make it three straight wins over his great Spanish rival for the first time.

"It's a nice feeling to win the last three, I can tell you that," Federer said. "But most importantly, I won Australia.

"That was big for me. On the comeback, I look back at that and think that was one of the coolest things I ever experienced in my career.

"Basel was special, too, for many reasons, because I used to be a ballboy there. After the Australian hype, to play here in America right away, all of them are very special.

"All the matches that we have played are unique in many ways for both of us, winning or losing. So I take it. Obviously I can't celebrate too long this time around. I have to get back to work in a couple of days."