Indian Wells, USA, 10 March 2013 | AFP/AAP

Lleyton Hewitt scored an impressive three-set win over world No.15 John Isner on Saturday to reach the third round of the Indian Wells Masters event in California.

In an encounter lasting almost two-and-a-half hours, the veteran Australian emerged a 6-7(6) 6-3 6-4 winner over the big-serving American.

The 32-year-old Hewitt will face 18th-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka for a place in the round of 16. Wawrinka defeated American Wayne Odesnik 3-6 6-2 6-1.

Hewitt, ranked 98th in the world, won the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament in the build-up to the Australian Open in January, but he hadn’t previously put together back-to-back wins on the ATP Tour this year.

Hewitt survived 18 aces from the world No.15 to move into the third round for the first time since 2008, saving all break points he faced and breaking Isner’s serve twice to score the win.

The loss is expected to hit Isner hard in the rankings – the American fails to defend the points he accrued from reaching the final at Indian Wells last year, a run that included a semifinal defeat of world No.1 Novak Djokovic.

“It’s nice to beat a big name. John’s obviously a tough match for anyone to play, and especially coming off a good result here last year,” Hewitt said.

“It’s good just to know you’re thereabouts. Obviously for me the priority are the slams and Davis Cup.

“I try and pride myself on playing well in those matches and the rest of it I try and prepare as well as possible for those tournaments.”

Tomic falls to Gasquet

Later in the day at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Bernard Tomic fell to Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-6(1) 6-2.

Playing on Stadium 2, the match was a tight affair throughout the first set before the 10th seed wrested control of proceedings in the tiebreak.

From there, Gasquet jumped all over the Aussie’s second serve to wrap up victory in just under 90 minutes.

He will next play Polish 24th seed Jerzy Janowicz.