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Defending champion Draper, who is continuing his recovery after an eight-month absence from the ATP Tour due to an arm injury, defeated Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 6-1 7-5.

Draper dominated the opening set but had a much tougher time of it in the second, as he was broken twice by Cerundolo.

The 19th seed Cerundolo, who recently won on home soil in Buenos Aires, was serving for the second set at 5-4 ahead, but Draper reeled off three straight games to prevail.

He will now take on Djokovic, who is still performing at the highest level two months away from his 39th birthday.

"I have been watching him since I was a young boy and in my opinion he is the greatest player of all-time," Draper said. "When you come up against him, you know he's going to be there mentally.

"You know he's going to make it an incredibly tough match and play some crazy tennis. I'm going to have to be ready for that.

"Anyone who is in the game and knows tennis, knows that what he has done in the sport and what he is still doing is mind-blowing."

Draper will have been relieved to win in just 78 minutes as he continues to rebuild his fitness, after being forced to come from behind to defeat Roberto Bautista Agut in his opening match.

His next opponent Djokovic has already racked up plenty of time on court, needing a deciding set to win each of his first two matches at the tournament.

"I'm only just getting to the point where I'm playing without pain in my arm," Draper said. "So it's not easy to feel really confident.

"Obviously I've been playing a little bit, but I've got to accept that my tennis isn't going to be completely there for a while."

Elsewhere at Indian Wells, Daniil Medvedev extended his winning streak to six matches with a comfortable 6-4 6-0 triumph over Sebastian Baez.

As a result, Medvedev became the first man to reach 15 singles victories on the ATP Tour in 2026.

The Russian will next face Alex Michelsen, who defeated fellow American and number seven seed Taylor Fritz 6-4 7-6 (8-6).